Claims News Service, May 16, 1:44 p.m. EST — Adjusters may see a decline in the amount of medical claims stemming from automobile accidents, as automobile manufacturers are developing better safety measures for smaller cars that are rapidly gaining popularity in the market.

For example, in recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests, the 2008 Smart Fortwo, the smallest car for sale in the U.S., earned the top rating for front and side crash protection. Its seat/head restraints garnered the second highest rating for protection against whiplash in rear impacts.

As the price of gas skyrockets, auto companies are expected to introduce more small vehicles like the Smart Fortwo to the market.

“The big question from consumers [about small cars] is, 'How safe is it?'” said Institute president Adrian Lund. “All things being equal in safety, bigger and heavier is always better. But among the smallest cars, the engineers of the Smart did their homework and designed a high level of safety into a very small package.”

While small cars are safer now than they previously were, so are large cars. In all passenger vehicle categories, the risk of crash-related death is higher in smaller, lighter models. For vehicles 1-3 years old during 2006, minicars experienced 106 driver deaths per million registered vehicles, compared to 69 driver deaths in large cars.

While many people assume that the lightest cars offer the best fuel economy, Lund says this is not the case.

“You don't have to buy the smallest, lightest car to get one that's easy on fuel consumption,” Lund said. “The Toyota Prius, for example, earns good front and side crash test ratings. It gets better fuel economy than a microcar, but it's bigger and weighs more so we would expect it would be more protective in serious crashes.”

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