Up! Safest Car, Up!-Ends Commonly Held Beliefs
When we talked about a four door version of Volkswagen’s hot-selling ( in Europe, not available stateside) small car, the Up!, one commenter in particular equaled the car to a happy meal container and its owners to baby killers. A small car can be very safe – if its engineers know what they are doing. It just so happens that that little happy meal container is proof of it. It was elected one of Europe’s safest cars.
Volkswagen’s Up! has been awarded five stars by Euro NCAP, the highest rating the independent European consumer protection organization can bestow. Wait, it can do one better: Euro NCAP also gave the Up! the 2012 Advanced Award, for the UP!’s City Emergency Braking function. According to Euro NCAP, the Up! is the safest cars in its class.
As a small car, you need to be a little smarter than a dumb tank that simply barges through. The City Emergency Braking function for instance is automatically activated at speeds between 5 and 30 km/ h, and it uses a laser sensor (integrated in the upper area of the windscreen) to scan a space up to 10 meters (33 feet) in front of the Up! According to Volkswagen, the Up! is the only car in its segment that can be equipped with a City Emergency Braking function.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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F=M*A, is all well and good, as is the many comparisons to Smarts, Modusii, Yarii, and Fits. Scissors beat paper, but rocks beat scissors. The F=M*A works just as well against panthers and F-Series trucks when one is talking about a tractor trailer or a school bus. Unless folks are arguing that we should all run out and buy armored trucks, the "My chassis is bigger than yours" runs aground by the existence of the freight industry, among others. And then there is the F=M*A counter-argument when factoring in the coefficients of friction (i.e. braking distance.) A counter-argument underscored this morning by the charming gentleman riding my ass in the F-150 while we were both stuck behind a soccer-mom. Additionally, some of us stayed awake during economics and physics. Particularly when the topic of resource elasticity arose. In that sense, when gas climbs above $5 a gallon and beyond, a triple-welded Up! frame makes more economic sense than a panther (or riding the bus) to work, and it certainly makes more physical/safety sense than a 20 year old compact.
I suppose I could up the stakes by stating that the owners of all those larger vehicles are the baby killers. I can’t vouch for my accuracy, but I’ve heard that most fatal accidents are single-vehicle. Safety stars ARE comparable across classes for that kind of accident, when you’re hitting a stationary object. Two factors that contribute to having a single-vehicle accident are being top-heavy or having a short wheelbase; electronics can mitigate the latter more than the former. In a multi-vehicle accident the smaller vehicle will take a greater impact. If the bumpers are grossly mismatched – which I personally think of as borderline criminal – that’ll hurt too. But I don’t understand why anyone’s saying that hitting a modern large vehicle will be worse than hitting a Volvo 940 (not counting the removed engine). Hitting a larger vehicle with modern crumple zones will be BETTER for the small car occupant than hitting one without. I also think some people are confused about what happens when there’s a weight mismatch. If the crash test involves hitting a fixed target at 40mph, that’s actually WORSE than hitting a Ford Expedition with a closing speed of 40mph, because in the latter case your small car will slow down the Ford Expedition a little bit. You’ll take more of an impact than the Expedition, but when you hit a fixed target you take 100% of it.
Well, in Europe you have to look very hard to find truck with lift kit...or any truck at all. In this environment where cars/crumple zones are mostly on the same level compared to road, these test results are important. VW doesn't plan to sell this car in NA.
Thats why I think all large pickups and SUV should be limited to 55mph by a foolproof speed governor.. massive fuel savings and higher safety for other cars.