In particular, the testers noted that the driver of the Fiat 500 was very vulnerable as the driver’s airbag can force the driver's head towards the A-pillar, which causes the upper body to come into contact with the steering wheel. ADAC also noted that the airbag burst shortly after deploying, and that the sheer force of the crash would have caused serious, life threatening injuries to the driver - especially in the neck, leg and pelvic areas.
In contrast, the Q7 fared much better than the Fiat 500. The injury risks for every passenger in the Q7 was low - while not even passengers in the back seats would have been spared from injury in the 500, despite it being a frontal crash.
ADAC concluded that the Fiat's poor performance was due to the great mass of the Q7 and its front-flat structure which is not conducive to spreading the impact of crash energy. The results clearly demonstrate why consumers shouldn't compare safety ratings between different classes. The Fiat 500, for example, garnered a five-star safety rating in its class from EuroNCAP, while the Q7 only managed to gain four stars.
Reader Comments
Fri Jul 25 2008 10:26 AM
raptor says
Finally, a proper test. Now you see how much are those 5 stars really worth if you hit something twice as heavy as you are.
Fri Jul 25 2008 1:12 PM
NoNameDenton says
Lesson to anyone in a small car: stay away from larger vehicles and only crash with something about the size of your own car.
Fri Jul 25 2008 1:54 PM
Gus says
I'm curious as to the G-forces on the dummies of the two vehicles.
According to Physics, they should be twice as high in the car that has half the mass.
Like I say about the Smart, it is a great vehicle, as long as you realize that it is much safer than a motorcycle, but not as safe as a normal sized car. The problem with these minicars is the United States, not the car. Here there are just so many large vehicles (for now)...
Fri Jul 25 2008 1:56 PM
Gus says
You can also clearly see how the small car is decelerated, and then accelerated backwards. This is the deadliest force of all...
Fri Jul 25 2008 10:35 PM
HECTOR says
The boneheads say that an SUV is safer. Sure, as long as you don't encounter a larger SUV.
I once heard Sean Hannity (blowhard of the Right if there was ever one) say that he bought an undisclosed SUV for his wife because he wanted her safe in case of an accident with a car. The underlinining sentiment is *don't care if you die but my wife is safe*.
That sentiment allowed the development of the Expedition and the Tahoe, followed by the Excursion and the Suburban and then the H1 and H2. And there are bigger behemoths out there. Someone can always come up with something bigger. One day you'll see an Army surplus M1A1 driving down the street.
This is one of my (very many) arguments against DRLs by the way. It used to be only bikes had them. Then it was Saabs and Volvos, then GM, then VW, now Toyota and Honda and soon (to my great dismay) all cars will have them. Except that then the alleged (and totally false) safety benefit they provide will have been nullified by the plethora of lights on at all hours of the day.
What do you do? If you're Toyota you make sure you blind the living crap out of everybody staring at the front of a Lexus RX. It's a fame of one upmanship. You install DRLs in your car, I'll make mine brighter.
In no time people will be driving around during the sunniest days with DRLs so bright they could be used to reflect the Batsignal off of clouds. Come to think of it, they already are.
Fri Jul 25 2008 11:37 PM
SuperSkyline89 says
Well, Now I'm definitely not buying a small car. As if I was ever planning to, but still, no way in hell now.
Sat Jul 26 2008 2:23 AM
Gus says
Yeah, it's just not worth it.
Sat Jul 26 2008 3:56 AM
PE says
quite a point less test in terms of proving the totally obvious and known facts of physics; to me, this is more of an insidious effort to promote huge SUVs/large cars for a German industry focused more on larger cars...why choose to test the latest marketing hit, pun not intended, in the market, albeit an Italian car, which the German press loves to attack in subtle ways, and not a VW Fox made in Brazil which would more than likely have fares worse than the Fiat?
Sat Jul 26 2008 4:01 AM
PE says
before you get influenced by such stupid tests you should think also of what are the chances of a head-on collissions of this nature...I would love to see a test between an Audi Q7 and a 'small' 10 ton truck...oh, my, I will never buy such a dinky car as an SUV, it has to be a huge truck!
Sat Jul 26 2008 4:04 AM
admin says
PE,
I think your taking a fairly cynical view. The test was conducted by an independent automobile club. ADAC is not just a German organization either, it encompasses all of Europe.
The video doesn't vilify small cars, it just shows what happens when small cars and SUVs meet. Additionally, the fact that the airbag explodes shortly after deploying in the Fiat 500 is quite worrying. I think the test is designed to show just how different the safety ratings can be between cars in different classes.
Sat Jul 26 2008 1:36 PM
Gus says
PE probably drives a small car, and doesn't want to know the truth...
And he probably doesn't understand that in Germany, the ADAC is similar to the IIHS or AAA here.
And, he probably doesn't understand that in the US, the chances of a collision with a large vehicle are very high...
Sun Jul 27 2008 12:03 AM
bambam says
Size won't matter much if you balance the impact zone. If I get hit in the head of course it's going to be different from being hit in the stomach. This is the height difference between the frame or front bull bars. If everyone(small/big cars) have a standard on the height. The impact will be different. There are plenty of researchers who have proven this, but nobody have applied the standards and there are way to work around it too. I wish someone big in research proves this more and get it approve. I think the USA will be the first to approve this.
Sun Jul 27 2008 9:40 AM
vb says
There is one thing missing in the article. The ADAC clearly called the Q7 misconstructed because it has only one longitudinal girder which doesn't deformate as it should and pierces into the Fiat.
Their conlcusion is, that it's not really the Fiat that lacks construction safety, it's the Q7. They want to show that there shouldn't only be tests for passenger safety but also for "dangerousness to other cars".
(damn, my English isn't good enough to explain it correctly, I hope you understand nevertheless)
Mon Jul 28 2008 2:06 AM
Gus says
Yes, that is true.
It's important that SUV manufacturers make sure the impact hits at the same level as a car. The problem, of course, is the SUV's are somewhat higher to be able to go (somewhat) off road, or to have a tow hitch that matches the standard ball hieght (18 inches).
From what I understand, my Ford Expedition and my Ford Mustang have the same impact level, and Ford really wanted to try to do that, but it would be tough to do across the board.
And then when people raise their SUV or lower their car, then all bets are off...
Wed Jul 30 2008 1:50 PM
club eighty two says
HEY DORK DO YOU STILL WANT ONE OF THESE?
Thu Jul 31 2008 7:17 AM
Onur says
I do wanna see a mini vs. X5 and see if mini is better than 500 against big vehicles.
Wed Aug 6 2008 8:38 AM
Rayaan says
phew its a good thing i drive a RX300 at the moment
Mon Aug 11 2008 12:11 PM
tp says
Never seen such a load of old rubbish like this in years!!! it's nearly as bad as the tripe they show on Top Gear these days. What ever happened to good old in-depth road test and honesty? This is like matching a heavy weight world champion boxer against a bantom wieght. Everyone knows what the result is going to be.
For me the Fiat 500 is still one of the best cars in the World!!!!
Thu Jan 29 2009 4:34 PM
unoboss says
If i was crossing the road i know that i spend a better chance of being alive if i was hit by the fiat 500 at 50 kph than the audi q7 . Its a suv killer.
Thu Jan 29 2009 4:34 PM
unoboss says
If i was crossing the road i know that i spend a better chance of being alive if i was hit by the fiat 500 at 50 kph than the audi q7 . Its a suv killer.
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