Whiplash found crash test footage of a 2008 Smart Fourtwo. Check it out:
Surprisingly, it scored decent results. It flies out of frame each time it gets hit or something hits it, but it holds up rather well. The presenter gives pretty good analysis and warns that the Smart is too small. Even though it protects the occupants in these closed environment tests, it give up too much mass to anything (probably everything) else on the road in an impact. So this inspired me to look for a few more crash vids. Here are two more I really liked:
This test pitted the 2009 smart against its bigger cousin, a MB C-class (compact car). Crazy stuff. As you can see, it does very poorly against a bigger vehicle. Crashes are so fun to watch. All the shrapnel and destruction. Even though the entire 3 min video is just showing the same crash in various slow-mo angles, I was sucked in by the footage.
This last vid is the same scenario (lil car vs big car) but done outside on a dusty road and with a mighty S-Class (full size car). If you only watch one vid from this post: SEE THIS ONE!
OMFG! The smart not only caught air, but it flipped over! Im not an engineer or anything, but I dont think its a good thing when that happens. What I really loved about this clip is that you can actually see the fourtwo crap itself prior to impact. Really! In the slow-mo footage! Watch it closely and you'll see the smart car unload its bowels right before it gets pwned by the S-Class. It then proceeds to bounce away and rolls over to die.
While this is very amusing and fun to watch, I almost forget that this is an actual car in the real world. Smart car drivers can get seriously hurt if just about any car on the street hits it. Any car... hmmm... nah, I won't say it. Thats too evil...
