Are Mazda Small Cars Safe Enough

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The Automobile industry has seen a sea change in its technology, design, dynamics and performance. While our earlier generations were used to driving heavier vehicles, somewhat bigger in size, we see variants of car sizes among which the small cars, especially from a well-known brand like Mazda are the most common among the common people. But many are doubtful about how safe they are in comparison to the heavy older cars. The doubts continue to exist even if a small car gets a good score in crash test, with the question if it would be able to hold its own safety after crashing against a bigger car. These are questions that are raised often by the car shoppers. Here is an attempt to answers those questions, in brief yet substantial detail regarding the safety aspect of small-car.

Safety in Modern Cars

The experts in one of the popular Riverside Mazda dealers opined that even though the latest small cars are much safer than their predecessors, the larger and heavier vehicles today would be still safer than the smaller ones. It is a matter of simple physics: Bigger and heavier cars would always be safer than the smaller and lighter ones, however they score well in the crash tests. As the large vehicles would weigh more and have elongated hoods and crush zones, they would be in an advantageous position during facing frontal crashes.

But Older ‘Tanks’ Were Not Safer Than New Smaller Cars

Some believe that older cars because of their tank-like built are safer than the new cars. But that is not a true fact. A 10-year-old vehicle however large does not have the benefits of side airbags or the feature like electronic stability control (ESC). Thus it would not be able to fare that well when meeting with an accident while a modern smaller vehicle equipped with modern safety equipment like collision preventing technology, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, would make these smaller cars safer than any big vehicle manufactured 10 years back.

Crash Test Scores do not Compare Size Difference

The most confusing issue in this matter for the car buyers is that, today cars of different sizes carry identical safety ratings, giving an impression that even a small car today is just as safe as its large counterpart. But unfortunately, that can never be the case.

We learnt from the Riverside Mazda dealership experts the fact that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a system of their own five-star safety ratings. IIHS performs its own crash tests on the cars for their crash-worthiness from Good to Poor, on the basis of the driver’s ability to handle a crash. These ratings are useful only when you’re comparing the cars within the same size class and never with the class of a different size.

The Bottom Line

Moreover, crash test programs can never cover every accident probability, but a good scoring car in the tests conducted by the IIHS and NHTSA, increases the chances of avoiding serious accidents impacts like severe physical injury or death, irrespective of the size of the vehicle. Mazda small cars have always scored higher in these tests and this is certainly beneficial for the small-car buyers who are need good mileage without compromising on safety.

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