Smart drive

As the roads are getting tighter due to the ever increasing number of vehicles, car manufacturers have scrambled to find ways to cram more money into that small gap between two vehicles on the road.  How?  They started pushing for the re-manufacturing of microcars!

Remember back in the day when you were a kid and you played with miniature die-cast replicas of road vehicles manufactured by Matchbox and Majorette?  And remember in the mid-80’s Galoob came out with a line of cars a fraction smaller called Micro-Machines?  That’s kind of like what it is.

Now, if you read last week’s article and you look at those microcars, especially the popular Fortwo by Smart, you kind of wonder where the crumple zones are in such a small vehicle and how safe are such cars as they take to the roads.  The crumple zone still exists in the front and back of the vehicle, albeit much smaller than the regular sedan.  With a small crumple zone, does that mean that lesser energy will be dissipated and the occupants will still bear the brunt of the impact?  Surprisingly, no.  The crumple zones only form part of the entire Tridion steel safety shell that these microcars are designed with.

Trid-what?  Tridion!  It is a steel housing that combines longitudinal and crosswise framing that displaces impact forces over a large area of the car.  At the front and rear of the vehicle are steel bumpers that are bolted to the safety cell’s lengthwise beams via slip tubes.  Think of it as a hybrid crumple zone and safety cage in one. The way the cell is designed, tridion safety shells activate the crumple zones of the colliding vehicle.  In a sense, it uses the other vehicle’s crumple zone to dissipate the force of impact.

BBC’s Top Gear subjected a subcompact car and the Smart car to similar 70mph crash tests and the results, surprisingly, favored the Smart car.  Although both cars didn’t look like anyone in the vehicles would’ve been able to survive the crash unharmed, the microcar’s body remained mostly intact compared to the subcompact car after the test.  Then again, a suddenly deceleration from 70 mph, in any vehicle, would cause injury to its occupants.

Being at least a foot less in width than a regular sedan, would the Smart car be able to provide protection in the event of a side impact collision?  Interestingly, it is the short wheel-base of these microcars that actually provide additional protection.  The average width of a regular sedan is pretty much the same as the wheel-base of the microcar.  In a sense, when a microcar is t-boned by a regular sedan, it is the wheels, which are also connected to the tridion shell, that bear the brunt of, and displace, the energy created by the impact.  Plus, the side braces installed in each door add to the safety of the occupants of the microcar.

Aside from the protection it provides the occupants, microcars like the Fortwo also protect mother nature.  It has low emission and most of its components are made of 100% recyclable materials.  So, if you still haven’t figured out which trash goes where, you’re in luck with the Smart car.  It’s pretty much eco-friendly and fully recyclable.

Now, if you’re wondering if I’ve been commissioned to sell or actually own a dealership of microcars since I’ve been raving about it the entire article, the answer is ‘no.’   I just find them interestingly novel and a great solution to all those people who tend to have trouble parking their regular sized vehicles.

You know, the ones who purchase those big, bulky SUV’s and AUV’s who can’t figure out how to properly park them in between the lines?  Yes, you.  Save yourself the glares and stares and get a microcar.  And if you still can’t get to park that right, give up driving, it’s obviously not for you.