How dangerous is it to drive a small or compact vehicle?

When you’re on the road, you want to make sure that your vehicle offers you as much protection as possible. Good safety technology and features may help you avoid serious injuries if you get into a crash.

That being said, there are other things people look for in the vehicles they buy, too. You might want to find a small vehicle to save on the cost of gasoline, or you may want to buy a mini vehicle to avoid high insurance rates or expensive car loans.

Problematically, small vehicles can be dangerous for the people inside. If an auto collision occurs, there isn’t as much room for the vehicle to crumple, meaning that the people inside could be crushed and injured more easily. These vehicles weigh much less than others on the road, too, so the lack of protection against a heavier impact is multiplied significantly.

Small cars score low on the safety tests

Usually, smaller vehicles score lower on safety tests. There are a few reasons for this, such as not having crumple zones or the framing to deal with a heavy impact.

Some small or compact vehicles are getting safer thanks to vehicle safety technologies and protective features. They’re less likely to roll in a collision than some other kinds of vehicles, for example.

That said, they’re still not safe compared to other vehicle options. In fact, the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) states that mini-car and small-car models take up 15 of 20 top spots when rating vehicles’ safety for death rates.

Small vehicles aren’t necessarily dangerous just because they’re small. The bigger issue is that other vehicles are so large. If two small vehicles get into a crash, the risk could be low (especially at lower speeds), but a collision with an SUV, semi-truck or bus, for example, could be fatal.

It’s impossible to fight with physics, so you need to know that a smaller vehicle won’t be as safe as a larger one in a collision. To protect yourself, you may want to do research into the different models and find those with the best safety ratings.