Small Cars Causes Huge Bill In Small Crashes

The Hyundai Accent is currently the least expensive car in America, by MSRP, at just under $10,000. With four minor, parking-lot speed accidents, you can reduce its worth by $7,203, according to a new report.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an automotive safety research lab funded by a consortium of insurance companies, conducted the tests. They crashed seven small cars into a barrier representing the bumper of another car at 6 mph, once to the front bumper and once to the rear. They then hit the same barrier at an angle, testing the corner of each bumper, at 3 mph - again once with the front bumper and once to the rear. They calculated the costs associated with repairing the damages from each low-speed crash, and published the total.

In a press release, the IIHS explains, "The Smart Fortwo is best overall, with $3,281 total damage in 4 tests." The Smart car's replaceable plastic body panels kept repair costs low. "The Chevrolet Aveo, a minicar, is next best, with $4,490 total damage." The Kia Rio placed last, with $9,380 in damages.

The tests are part of a new IIHS campaign to improve auto bumpers, testing hundreds of cars in the four bumper-bash accidents and publishing bumper ratings for each. Automobile Magazine reports, "The IIHS hopes that their new bumper rating system will help buyers make a more informed decision when buying a car as to possible repair costs if the owner does happen to get into an accident."

The Institute gives cars a score of Good, Acceptable, Marginal or Poor on each test. Kicking Tires reports, "Out of seven cars, none received the top rating of Good. The Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, Mini Cooper and Toyota Yaris all received the lowest rating, Poor, while the Chevy Aveo managed a Marginal rating and the Smart ForTwo was rated Acceptable."

Institute senior vice president Joe Nolan told the AP that "bumpers should be designed to protect vehicle parts such as grilles and headlights," but in none of the tested cars did the bumper protect those features well. "Damages should cost less than the typical $500 insurance deductible for a collision." But none of the tested cars met that standard for any accident.

The standard is particularly relevant to tiny microcars. Jalopnik notes, "Microcars are often chosen for urban driving because they're affordable, fuel efficient and easy to park," but "fender-benders are the largest urban driving hazard."

If you're in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year's best cars as well as this month's best car deals.