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Consumers Choosing Tiny Cars Despite Safety Risks

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 21, 2006

Auto Safety • New Auto Safety Legislation Aims to Protect Children • Insurance Group: Supersport Motorcycles Deadly • Feds Consider Tougher Auto Safety Ratings • Congress Urged to Protect Children from Vehicle Deaths • Motorcycle Death Rates Rising, Safety Chief Warns • Feds to Require Additional Minivan Door Latch • Survey: Teens Still Driving Dangerously • Feds Propose Recorders to Monitor Truckers' Hours • Feds Propose New Auto Safety Tests • Consumers Choosing Tiny Cars Despite Safety Risks • IIHS: Bigger is Better in Car Safety • NHTSA's Dirty Little Secrets • Feds Find Backup Sensors Ineffective • Simpler Dashboards Might Make Cars Safer • States Struggle to Cut Highway Fatality Rate • Ford Makes Stability Control Standard for 2009 • Feds Require Safety Info on New Car Window Stickers • Motorcycle, Pedestrian Deaths Rising • Safer Cars, Not Safer Drivers, Reducing Highway Deaths • Former Lobbyist in Driver's Seat at NHTSA • Must-Have Safety and Convenience Features for New Car Shopping • More ...

Little cars are becoming big hits despite warnings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that bigger is better for safe motoring in America.

The Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Nissan Versa are low-priced choices in a small-car market that is up 42.2 percent compared with a year ago, according to industry tracker Autodata. At the same time, the overall automobile market is down 2.5 percent.

While the marketing experts say consumers are getting a lot for their money, the auto safety experts are urging consumers to stick with bigger, heavier vehicles, which tend to be safer for motorists.

IIHS offered that recommendation as it released crash-test ratings for subcompact vehicles. None of the subcompacts tested received an IIHS endorsement, according to institute president Adrian Lund.

Consumers keep snapping up the tiny units though.

Discounts on the economy subcompacts are the smallest in five years but the tiny cars are selling in an average 29 days, less than half the time it normally takes to sell a vehicle.

Sales of the tiny units continue to climb even as safety experts report that driver death rates in subcompacts are higher than in any other vehicle category. IIHS evaluated nine cars weighing 2,500 pounds or less. Good was the highest rating, followed by acceptable, marginal and poor.

The Nissan Versa received the highest rating in front, side and rear crash tests.

The Toyota Yaris was next-best, earning good in front and side crash tests but marginal in the rear test. Among the worst performers were the Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio, earning acceptable in the front test, but poor in the side and rear tests.

The tiny cars are all the next size down from the compacts such as the Toyota Corolla and Honda and consumer appetite for little wheels has caught the eye of the world's largest automaker. General Motors, seeing profits in small-car sales, introduced a redesigned version of its South Korean-made Chevrolet Aveo earlier this year.

The appeal of subcompacts is in several areas. They are inexpensive. Some offer amenities usually found on bigger, pricier cars and still don't break the $20,000 barrier.

They save gas and are among the thriftiest non-hybrid cars on the road. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, found the group has better fuel economy than all vehicles except a handful of diesels and gasoline-electric hybrids.

The market isn't just college students. The median age of Yaris buyers is 40. Small cars are proving popular with solo commuters and frugal seniors who no longer have kids to haul around.

BMW opened the tiny car market in the U.S. with the Mini Cooper in March 2002 and ever sincea growing number of buyers have decided small cars are desirable.

The IIHS has concluded that small cars can be hazardous to your safety. Subcompacts are popular because of good gas mileage. Nevertheless, bigger is better when it comes to safety according to Lund.

"If you really want to save fuel, buy a larger car that's less powerful than a smaller lightweight vehicle that also sacrifices your safety," he said.

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