This issue was covered in great depth when the Smart Car (e.g. Fortwo) got popular in Europe. Smart Cars have a lot of safety features, seat belts, airbags (4x), ABS, stability control, but the question was really about impact distribution.<p>They put in a tridion protection cell[0] and moved the engine to the back to offer SOME crumple at the front. The Euro NCAP rated it 4&#x2F;5, IIHS rated it &quot;good&quot; but it later failed the partial frontal collision test (&quot;poor&quot;).<p>A Smart Car likely would do alright in most collisions. Although it somewhat benefits from the large crumple zones of every other vehicle has on the road. If two Smart Cars collided head on, the results might be worse than if a Smart Car collided with any other vehicle type.<p>That all being said, just because Smart managed it, doesn&#x27;t mean every small car is equally safe. Without the tridion cell and SOME crumple zone, it would be a much less safe vehicle.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;auto.howstuffworks.com&#x2F;smart-car1.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;auto.howstuffworks.com&#x2F;smart-car1.htm</a>