Big cars are safer than small ones. This is not the least bit surprising. If the S-class sedan collided with a dump truck I would expect the Benz to act the same way the Smart Fortwo did in this test.
That test showed how well the safety cage held up
Did it? That wasn’t really clear. The inside view of the Fortwo was not as good as the Benz. The crash dummies left intact, but that does not necessarily mean that a person would not have been hurt. I don’t speak German so I don’t know what the people said.
Here is a crash video in english:
I am somewhat impressed by the crash cage of the smart car. But there is still significant footwell intrusion (hard to avoid on something this small), and even if the cage is intact, the accelerations were likely enormous. You can have a cage survive, but if the g-forces are high enough, your aorta will still literally rip out from your heart, and you’re every bit as dead.
Having a larger crumple zone allows for lower g-forces (basic physics), which will mean better survivability, all else equal. Obviously, you still need a good crash cage…
Thanks for the reference. I would not expect any car to fare well in a 70 MPH collision with a concrete wall. The foot well on the left side of the Fortwo was destroyed. It was worse than the other minicar they compared it to. That was what I could not see in the first video and was most interested in.