Good safety compared to other cars of their size/weight. OK what other cars of their size and weight come to mind???? BEEEEP, sorry times up. I guess that answers the safety question. For a confirmation ask your insurance agent about insurance rates for the Smart Car. They are small and may not do much damage to others and their property so liability may not be too high but...

A little physics I would share with you... In an inelastic collision (car crumbles in a wreck and sticks to the other car like two lumps of putty banged together instead of bouncing off like two billiard balls bouncing off each other) the momentum before and after the wreck are the same. Momentum is mass times velocity. Lets say your smart car at about 1600 lbs (one of the lightest cars in the world) is going 60mph on a level highway headed north and the truck at 80,000 lbs is headed south toward the Smart Car at 60 mph. They hit head-on. The resultant mass of metal (Smart car embedded in the grill of the truck) will be traveling in the direction the truck was going. It will be going 57.65 mph. The truck driver will experience a deceleration from 60 down to 57.65 mph, a little over 2 mph and will not be seriously hurt.

The Smart car occupants and all their air bags, head restraints, and whatever will undergo a change of velocity of 117.65 mph in a fraction of a second. This is sufficient G force to turn them into jelly. The truck driver will experience a deceleration less violent than walking into a wall at a normal walking speed. The Smart car occupants will be removed from the wreckage with a fire hose.

SMART Car Crash - Video

If the government put a stiff weight tax on vehicles then over time the average weight of a car on the highway would go down seriously as market pressures took effect. This would increase traffic safety and reduce fuel consumption.

Executive summary/Readers Digest version:

The Smart Car and its occupants will be smashed by the truck like the truck hitting an insect. Truck may sustain radiator damage. Truck driver will not be injured.

Pat