Minicars, Subcompacts Still Face a Disadvantage,But Auto Makers Are Working to Close the Gap .

Small is beautiful in the U.S. automobile market as gasoline prices head to new records almost daily. Still, many American motorists wonder whether small cars are safe.

One answer is that small cars are a lot safer than they used to be -- as safe, by one measure, as midsize cars were a decade ago.

One startling symbol of how far crash protection technology has come is last week's announcement that the miniscule 1,800-pound Smart Fortwo achieved "good" ratings in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's rigorous front and side crash tests. A little over a decade ago, the Insurance Institute complained that none of the 11 top-selling small cars merited a "good" rating in its crash testing. Now, five of 17 2008 model small cars listed on the IIHS Web site have good ratings for both the front and side crash tests. 

The bad news is that small and minicars as a class still have higher fatality rates per million registered vehicles than most larger vehicles. That's a challenge for manufacturers who will need to sell more small cars to meet fuel-economy standards and respond to consumer concerns about fuel costs.

"The tradeoff is still there," says Adrian Lund, the Insurance Institute's president. "Large cars and small cars are both much better designed to protect occupants than 20 years ago, or 10 years ago. But if you look at the fatality rates today, we see the risk doubles for the smallest cars" compared to a very large one.

Mr. Lund says there's no way to eliminate the difference. "This is just the laws of physics. It's size and weight and the distance it takes to bring objects to a stop." If a large car hits a tree, there is more car to absorb the crash -- and more space within the car to provide cushioning for the impact on the driver's body -- than there would be in a compact or minicar.

Safer,but still not the same

Driver deaths per million registered passenger vehicles 1-3 years old:

1996 Rate        2006 Rate

Cars

Mini      165          106 

Small    126          99 

Midsize  99          70  

Large    63          69  

Very large  76          41

Pickups

Small        143        116 

Large       118        98

Very large  94          84 

SUVs

Small      108        42  

Midsize    96        50  

Large      57        43

Very large  58        33

Manufacturers of small cars will need to convince consumers of a different view, and as the Smart crash tests indicate, that work is well under way.

The Smart car is designed around a stiff, beefy steel cage that encircles the occupants. Because the car has relatively little space between the bumper and the driver, the seat belts and airbags do more of the work cushioning the forces of a front-end crash, according to the IIHS crash-test analysis.

At Honda Motor Co., which depends the most on small vehicle sales of any of the U.S. market Big Six manufacturers, attacking the problem of small-car safety has been a top priority for years. Honda engineers and product planners emphasize that crashworthiness isn't simply about putting more airbags in a car. It's also about the design of the vehicle's body and the kind of steel that's used. Car makers are using significantly more high-strength steel in new models, despite the higher cost, to make cars more crashworthy without adding too much weight, which is bad for gas consumption.

Honda for several years has promoted an approach to body design it calls ACE, (for Advanced Compatibility Engineering). The idea is to design a small vehicle (the next generation Honda Fit for example) that doesn't just crumple in a front-end crash, but dissipates the crash forces along channels engineered into the body so as to spare the occupants the full brunt of the impact.

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微型汽车，超小型汽车仍然面临着一个局限，但是汽车制造商正尽力完善中。

在美国汽车市场，小就是够好，因为汽油价格正日新月异地猛涨。 但是，许多美国的汽车者仍关注小型汽车是否够安全。

显然，小型汽车相比已经安全不少了，单就安全方面来说，已到达了中型车的10年前的水准了。

碰撞保护技术能起到多大的成效？ 一个标志性的事件是上周的通告：1800英镑的Smart Fortwo小汽车在IIHS（公路安全保险协会）的严苛的正碰和侧碰测试中达到了“良好”。10多年前，该机构还抱怨说，最畅销的11款小型汽车，无一能通过他的碰撞测试。 而现在，IIHS网页上列举的17款2008年的小型汽车，已经有5款全部通过了正面和侧面碰撞测试了。

不幸的是，小型和微型汽车相比大多数的大型的车子来，在每百万登记的车辆中，仍然有较高的死亡率。 这对寄希望于销售更多的小型汽车以实现燃油的经济性的制造商及担忧燃油价格而积极响应的消费者来说，确实是个严峻的考验。

“看你如何权衡了，”IIHS的主席说，“大型汽车和小型汽车在保护乘员方面，都比20年前甚至10年前有了长足进步。 但是如果你看下今天的死亡率，我们仍然发现最小型汽车几乎是超大型车的风险的两倍。

Lund先生说无法消除这个差异，“这个是物理规律决定了的，在于他的尺寸，重量和停止前可动部件移动的距离。” 如果一个大型车子撞上了树，车子吸收碰撞能量的很大，和微型车相比，提供给驾驶员身体碰撞缓冲的空间要大得多。

虽然更安全了，但是依旧无法比拟（即微小型车依旧无法和大型车相提并论）

每百万辆登记的1~3年的车辆中，驾驶员的的死亡率。

（1996年比率） （2006年比率）

（汽车）

（微型）165          106  

（小型）126          99

（中型）  99          70 

（大型）  63          69

（超大型）76          41 

（货运汽车）   

（小型）143        116

（大型） 118        98  

（超大型）94          84

（ 运动型多功能汽车） 

（小型） 108        42

（中型）  96        50

（大型）   57        43

（超大型） 58        33 

小型车的制造商有必要说服消费者换个角度看问题，正如SMART车在碰撞试验中显示的，一切工作正在顺利进行。

SMART车设计成一个不容易弯曲的，结实的刚性罩子环绕着乘员。因为该车的前保杆和驾驶员间的相对空间很小，座椅安全带和安全气囊在IIHS的碰撞分析中起到了不可忽视的吸能缓冲作用。

美国市场的前6大汽车商中，HONDA是最依赖小型车的销量的，多年来，一直领先致力于小型车的安全问题研究。 HONDA的工程师和产品策划者强调说，防撞性不是靠简单地在一辆车上多配制几个安全气囊就能解决问题的，而应该同时兼顾到车身的设计使用的钢材等。 汽车商正注目于使用更高强度的钢材，虽然成本较高，但是能使汽车更加耐撞且没有增加太多的重量，这是有益于能源消耗的。

多年来，HONDA摸索出一条车身设计的路来，称之为ACE（先进的相容性工程）。构思是设计一款小型车（比如说HONDA的FIT车型的次级车），在正碰时，不是简单地以前端板折皱，而是通过多渠道一起将碰撞的能量耗散到车身里去，以使乘员免遭碰撞时的的全部正面冲击影响。