I survived a major head on in a Honda civic hybrid 2004 model. I barely made it out of the car alive, the at fault party was driving a Jeep product, the hybrid was totally destroyed, where as the Jeep though totalled still looked like a very solid design, where as the Honda really gave it all up in terms of barely surviving the wreck for it's three passengers. The jeep driver was not even hurt. So my question is the overall safety of these super light wieght cars being compromised in terms for gas economy? I really think in terms of fuel economy versus product safety as a major concern of mine in a world of 4000 plus pound SUV's versus 1800 pound Hybrids you really comeout on the low end of safety to get the high fule econonmy. I like the concept but in the real world serious safety issues will come up with hybrids based on crash surviability. I know, I was just a back seat passenger, and I very nearly died in a wreck with a JEEP used as a battering ram by a very negligent driver.

Any one in simular wreck out there?

I think Honda is addressing this in their new program:

http://www.hondacorporate.com/enviro...section=safety

Billy

Since the HCH is built on the traditional Civic frame, I don't think it is a safety issue with the hybrid technology, but rather a smaller vehicle that was slammed by a larger one.
Quite a few years ago I was in a wreck where I lost consiousness for a few seconds. The extremely bad wreck left me paranoid of any traffic situation for months after I physically healed, so I understand your concern.

Safety concerns for my family and myself was a major isue when shopping for small cars. The Civic is rated among the best, and if you were riding in a different type of car that is not as safe.....

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

I am right now involved in a safety discussion in another forum about weight and collison safety. I just asked a SUV owner how he was thinking about safety, suggesting that he protected his family at the cost of other car drivers. He went absolutely mad and refused to say it out clearly that this was the case.

It is not the "light-weight" cars (I'd call it normal weight), it is the heavy-weight SUVs and trucks that causes higher overall risks in traffic.

Johan Erlandsson

See mileage data for my 00 Prius.
See my environmental performance (still in swedish only, feel free to ask).

That's correct. Also, cars are SUPPOSED to crumble. Basic physics. The same amount of force over a longer period of time (crush time... think accordion) is less damaging. The same concept applies when a larger vehicle (the Jeep) hits a smaller vehicle (the Civic). Since the Jeep weighs more, it takes longer to slow down, whereas the Civic decelerates much quicker. That'll make an SUV "safer" than a midsize car, all things being equal.

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I'd like to see a report on what happens when an SUV hits another SUV or a minivan. Or even a larger vehicle. Since it is "sturdier" It should take more force to make it crumple. That addition force will probably be felt by the occupants.