When Big Meets Small

Cars spun along the strip, crashed, smashed, shattered, splintered, and stopped in a downpour of metal and glass. It looked like Indianapolis all over again, but the site was East Haddam, Conn., the event no sport but an experiment in automobile survival staged by the state police department to prove its contention that small cars are more vulnerable than standard models.

The test consisted of driving a big car head on into a stationary small car, and vice versa. Photographs taken at the moment of collision were enough to alarm any small-car owner -- and did when they were reproduced in news papers across the country. Dauphines, Volkswagens and Saabs were devastated, while the bigger Buicks, Fords and Pontiacs came out of the wrecks relatively unscathed. Connecticut State Police Commissioner Leo J. Mulcahy, who planned the project, pronounced the tests conclusive and declared: "We want to create buyer resistance to small cars and to arouse . . . public awareness of the dangers of riding in small cars."

"Foul!" There were instant shouts of "foul!" Safety engineers complained that the demonstration was longer on publicity value than on detached scientific measurements. Renault President Vin cent Grob called the experiment "biased, proving only that if a big, heavy object can be directed to hit a small object, the small object can be hurt." U.S. compact-car makers, who have long resented being lumped with foreign-made economy cars in statistical surveys, discreetly pointed out that the only U.S.-made compacts involved in the Connecticut tests (two Falcons and a Rambler) had emerged in comparatively good condition--but naturally, these nondramatic collisions did not make for dramatic photographs.

More impressive than Mulcahy's flashy tests are some sober statistics compiled in recent months by various state authorities. A survey made last year by Illinois' Bureau of Traffic reported that the death rate of compact and small-car drivers was double the death rate of other passenger-car drivers. A similar report by Maine, published in April, showed a fatality rate for persons in compacts (defined as cars under 3,000 lbs.) that is 51 times as great as that of full-size cars. Studies of the California Highway Patrol found that small-car occupants suffer a far higher rate of injury or death in accidents. "Compact and foreign cars," says Michigan Highway Commissioner John C. Mackie, "may be socially desirable in some parts of the country, but they are a nuisance. Less weight and less acceleration make a car less safe."

Nimble & Lethal. In rebuttal, the small-car men have an impressive case: small cars do not get into as many accidents. The Maine and California surveys corroborate the contention; both report that the big cars have a substantially higher accident rate. Because the small-compacts have relatively modest engines, their drivers do not feel that heady sense of power that tempts teen-agers and frustrated males to reckless speed, which is admittedly the principal single cause of accidents.

The small car can swerve faster, stop shorter. And perhaps because of this nimbleness and humility, small-car drivers mow down far fewer pedestrians and bicycle riders than their big brothers. Insurance companies bear out the argument. Most offer a 10% discount to drivers of small-compact cars, based on "lower bodily injury and property damage because of the smaller size and weight and related safety factors."

In the end, the argument seemed a standoff. The Detroit Free Press ob served: "We're not sure the [Connecticut] findings get anywhere. For if we assume the necessity of collisions, then every driver should logically try to get a car heavier than his neighbor's--leading in the end to a battle tank with Air-foam upholstery and dual headlights." Alternatively, small-car makers might demand a restriction on big cars, on the ground that they may be safer for their occupants but far more lethal to others.

Conclusion: the driver of a small car is less apt to have an accident. In an accident, the driver of a big car is better off, but he may do in more victims.

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