Who else is absolutely sick of all of these really small new hybrid cars?

Question

they're completely unsafe! if someone hit you, you'd be crushed in an instant! they should be outlawed in the US! yeah they get 60 miles to a gallon but what's better, your life, or 60 mpg???

Answer 1

Where do you see all these really small hybrid cars?They are no smaller and no less safe than a lot of regular cars.

Answer 2

wouldn't know   haven't had a car in years   i  ride  electric moped to airport  then i FLY

Answer 3

So you drive one of the gas hogging, emissions spewing road pigs?  Give me a low emission, high milage little car anyday.  I guess if you drive like an idiot, you need a tank out there, otherwise...gimme a little car!

BTW... if you are not part of the solution, you are the problem.

Answer 4

Just you Jack. Get real.

Answer 5

Actually, I've been SICK of all the behemoths out there for a long time! It makes me sick to see 1 person driving in a 6000+ lb vehicle with seating for 7. And don't give me that "need" BS unless you have a REAL business. I'm from a family of 7, and we didn't need an SUV to get around. You can try to spin your want into a "need" all day long, but you'd still be lying to yourself.

As with second-hand smoke, when you affect others with your actions that's when something needs to be done. People like you help make the price too expensive for some (supply and demand). Down with inefficiency!

Answer 6

I suppose the adage "at least I'll walk away" should be become the motto of monster SUV owners everywhere, wait!

It already is!

I am ashamed to an American today!

Suppose for a min. there were only small cars on the road, would the hybrids be unsafe then?

The mere fact that you suggest that someone else's choice, their freedom to bring harm on themselves should be limited or outlawed is horrible, that isn't what America used to stand for, it used to stand for people having the right to skin their knee and than realize that what they did was stupid so they wouldn't do it again, now we skin our knee and we look for a lawyer to make it the other guys fault for us being stupid.

Please don't take this as me agreeing with you, I don't.

Bigger cars is not the answer.

We need to deny technology and all  it's wicked ways, it's the work of the devil!

Just kidding but I bet you figured I would say something like that!

Answer 7

What makes you think they're unsafe?   Ever heard of an airbag?

The reason they're unsafe is because there are too many big cars on the road.  If we banned SUVs we wouldn't have this problem.

Answer 8

OMG, you are looking at this the wrong way!!  So typical of the egotistical American!

The larger cars should be banned from the streets, not the efficient ones!!!

Answer 9

Good question.

The problem is that the side effects of using overly large vehicles are worse than the safety problem.

Dependence on countries who hate us for our economic well being, the rising cost of oil to our economy, global warming, etc.

We can no longer afford to have people using 5000 pound SUVs to take one person over good roads to the grocery store.

Answer 10

The newest hybrids are not small at all.  New hybrids for 2008:

Lexus LS600hL (midsize car)

Chevy Malibu hybrid (midsize car)

Chevy Tahoe hybrid (large SUV)

GMC Yukon hybrid (large SUV)

The smallest hybrids have been the compact sized Honda Civic Hybrid (which is the same size and as safe as the very popular regular Civic), the older-style compact sedan 2001-2003 Toyota Prius (redesigned in 2004 to a larger midsize hatchback), the compact Lexus GS450h (again the same size and safe as the GS430 gasoline sister), and the 2-seater Honda Insight (discontinued in 2006).  But there are plenty of other non-hybrid 2-seaters on the road, and even smaller subcompact vehicles (like the Mini Cooper, Honda Fit, Toyota Echo, etc.), but I don't hear you complaining about their size...

sadly, most of the manufacturers seem to be hybridizing trucks/SUVs these days, and not cars...  available hybrids in the US, in no real order:

Honda Insight (now discontinued)

Honda Accord Hybrid (now discontinued)

Honda Civic Hybrid: http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-hybri...

Toyota Prius: http://www.toyota.com/prius/

Toyota Camry Hybrid: http://www.toyota.com/camry/index.html

Toyota Highlander Hybrid: http://www.toyota.com/highlander/index.h...

Lexus RX400h: http://www.lexus.com/models/RXh/

Lexus GS450h: http://www.lexus.com/models/GSh/

Lexus LS600hL: http://www.lexus.com/models/LSh/

Ford Escape Hybrid: http://www.fordvehicles.com/suvs/escapeh...

Mercury Mariner Hybrid: http://www.mercuryvehicles.com/mariner/t...

Mazda Tribute Hybrid: http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/displayP...

Saturn Vue Green Line

Saturn Aura Green Line: http://www.saturn.com/saturn/vehicles/gr...

Nissan Altima Hybrid: http://www.nissanusa.com/altima/key-feat...

GMC Sierra hybrid (discontinued?)

Chevy Silverado hybrid (discontinued?)

GMC Yukon hybrid: http://www.gmc.com/yukonhybrid/index.jsp

Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid: http://www.chevrolet.com/tahoe/

Chevrolet Malibu hybrid: http://www.chevrolet.com/2008malibu/

I think you should look into the crash test results, for the hybrid models that you're looking at.  You may be surprised that they're just as if not more safe than their conventional counterparts.

US:

http://www.safercar.gov/

http://www.iihs.org/

elsewhere:

http://www.euroncap.com/

http://www.howsafeisyourcar.com.au/

http://www.nasva.go.jp/mamoru/indexe.htm...

and as for your question about larger vehicles - think of it like an arms race.  you don't want to have the smallest car, so you get a big truck.  but then someone else gets a bigger truck, so you feel small again and get something bigger...  soon we're all driving tractor trailers...  larger vehicles are more difficult to stop (longer stopping distance)and the trucks/SUVs are more prone to rollover and are more likely to injure/kill occupants of a car that they hit.

http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/teepa/pdf/Are_SUV...

http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/teepa/pdf/TRB_Saf...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/01/03/suv_...

but with 57% of fatal crashes only involving 1 vehicle, it doesn't matter the size of the vehicle, but its individual crash worthiness...

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automoti...

Answer 11

First of all, the smallest hybrids are mid-sized cars.  They're bigger than compact non-hybrid cars.

Secondly, they do well in crash tests because they have a lot of airbags.  They're not unsafe.

SUVs on the other hand, can flip over relatively easily in a high-speed collision.  How is that safe?

Regardless, if people didn't own unnecessarily large cars, trucks, and SUVs, this wouldn't even be an issue.  I'm sick of SUVs - they are a waste of resources.

Answer 12

what really small hybrid?

the smallest hybrids are the honda civic or toyota prius.

and small doesn't mean unsafe, the Tango http://commutercars.com/ , as owned by Tom Hanks, meets F1 crash requirements. Whereas many Stupid Ugly Vehicles have low crash survivability due to rolling, unsecured loads and fire risk and higher crash likelyhood due to poor brakes for the weight, high centre of gravity, poor driver awareness of road conditions and other road users

Death in a crash may be an obvious hazard, but more people have reduced health & life expectancy due to vehicle emmissions than killed in cars - thousands die each year due to diesel particulates.

Hundreds killed in oil extration & refining (see http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/...

Climate change will cause spread of tropical disease and malnutrition. etc

will you outlaw walking & cycling too?

Answer 13

they are quite ugly, but they are very efficient and in fact they are not new at all.

We have the least amount of gas miles that cars can get. most countries cars get about 40 mpg and we're only getting around 20mpg.

europe has been using these little "bubble" cars for a very long time, and that is where they are coming from

Answer 14

Hmmm, small cars aren't unsafe unless one of those ridiculously over-sized large SUV's or full-sized pick-ups smashes into them because they are so heavy they take a million years to stop.

Answer 15

People that drive any type of BIG car either an SUV or Mercedes etc project an image of being selfish, narrow minded, and thoughtless, and unfortunately for them not the image that they think they are projecting ie being wealthy and fashion aware. Ironically I think that most people who are driving large expensive cars have had to be selfish, narrow minded, and thoughtless to get the money to afford to be able to buy and maintain the car and are in fact projecting exactly what they are and not how they want to appear.

  If you think about your question then everybody would have to drive bigger and bigger cars to be "the safest".

But if everyone drove small cars there would not be the same

issue as we would all be safe. Plus we could use all the road space saved for bike lanes and then close most of the roads totally and have a public transport system so we would not have to worry about crashing.

Ha ha ha every single person that has answered thinks you are wrong.

Answer 16

No, you're stating opinion.  America is too spolied to not understand the implications and how we impact our environment.  If you can't watch for other drivers, maybe you shouldn't have a license at all.

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