Small cars zoom over big ones in crash tests
Page 1 of 2 5:00AM Wednesday June 13, 2007
By Derek Cheng
Small cars like the Ford Focus outperformed bigger cars like Holden's Commodore in the latest crash tests.
The latest car crash-testing results dispel the myth that you have to be in a tank to be safe from harm on the road.
Six out of seven small cars earned the maximum five-star ratings and outperformed many larger vehicles in the latest tests from the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) and the European equivalent, EuroNCAP.
The results suggest a person is safer in a Mini Cooper or a Toyota Corolla than in a four-wheel-drive Grand Vitara or Hyundai Santa Fe (both four-star).
The five-star small cars - Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla hatch, Toyota Corolla sedan, Renault Clio, Mini Cooper, Peugeot 207 - also outperformed bigger brothers such as the Toyota Camry and the Holden Commodore (both four-star).
Ratings are based on tests which include a frontal-impact test at 64km/h and a side-impact test at 50km/h.
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