This is NOT a Smart Car!
This is not a Smart Car
Are you getting emails forwarded from people showing a car smashed between 2 large trucks like the one above?
And does the email say something like
“OUCH!”
and
“Here is a photo of a wreck in Jefferson Parish, LA (near New Orleans ) between two trucks and a Smart Car. Think I’ll pass on the Smart Car.
Do You Still Want a Smart Car? Not if you are smart!”
Here is some news: The car is NOT a Smart Car!
It is a Ford Escape as reported by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and confirmed HERE in Snopes. The photo is real, the car is just NOT a Smart Car.
(Only the passenger side of the vehicle was crushed, the driver survived with some injuries.)
It is relatively easy to spot the difference even if you can only see one wheel. The Smart has a 3-lug wheel:
3-lug Smart Car Wheel
The one in the photo of the accident has FIVE lugs:
not a Smart Wheel
In addition, all the body panels on the Smart are plastic and they would have bent or snapped, they would not look like crumpled sheet metal. Sometimes the email you get also has this photo attached:
also not a Smart Car
How many lugnuts are on the wheel of this car? Five. So is it a Smart Car? No.
So what is it? It is a VW Cross. Other photos on the web show this accident from a number of points of view and the VW logo is clearly visible in the wheel hub.
So if you get one of these emails, please don’t mindlessly forward it out of ignorance.
Tags: ignorance, lazy people, not smart
September 10th, 2009 at 7:26 am
I received this same email also. I added the link to your story to everyone that had forwared this email to the orignal sender of my email. Thanks for your clearification.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:06 am
Even so, these microcars are a terrible idea for the united states. Unless one lives in the inner city, one should not even consider buying one. Very unsafe. Very unreliable.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:11 am
unsafe and unreliable? You have something to back that up? Other than your opinion?
citation please or GTFO.
I am not aware of any pending safety investigations like SUV ROLLOVERS:
January 8th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
I’ve researched the smart car extensively. My wife and I are picking ours up at the dealer tomorrow.
We read hundreds of reviews by actual owners who love it, and read the “pro” reviews, who just didn’t get it!
Any safety concerns were eliminated when we went to this site: http://www.safeandsmart.com/
Here’s an excerpt from a review by a couple that survived a crash with a Ford F150:
“the police officer that took the accident report came to the hospital ER to talk to my husband. This was the first accident involving a Smart in Plano and he was beyond impressed with the structural integrity of our Smart car, especially considering that the Ford F-150 was completely destroyed and totaled!!!”
BTW, they had minor injuries from an accident that destroyed the truck!
November 14th, 2010 at 12:35 am
Smart cars are just as dangerous and peaces of crap
January 7th, 2011 at 12:02 am
Okay, it’s a Ford Escape. Had it been a Smart Car there would be even less car to view between those two trucks. These micro cars are death traps, pure and simple. I would take my chances on my Indian motorcycle, and do, before I would load myself into one of these tuna cans.
January 7th, 2011 at 12:04 am
Jack, best of luck … and steer clear of Ford F-150’s. You can’t believe everything you read.
January 26th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
thanks Smart Smart owners our cars always seems to get a bad wrapwhen we are the Smartones for driving a Smart car Just didn’t know how much we were going to have to defend it . From no believers or just plane stupid uninformed people.
June 13th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Thank goodness it wasn’t a Smart Car!
August 18th, 2012 at 2:34 am
Look up smart car crash test on YouTube, especially the one where one gets smashed into a concrete barrier at 70 MPH. Watch one of the longer versions where the potential injuries to occupants are discussed.