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> a frontal collision between two tiny cars going at full speed will likely have severe outcomes for the drivers and passengers Wouldn't the lower mass of the

> a frontal collision between two tiny cars going at full speed will likely have severe outcomes for the drivers and passengers Wouldn't the lower mass of the vehicles mean less forceful impact of the crash? Momentum, kinetic energy, impact - everything scales linearly with mass. If that cars weigh half as much they only need to handle half as much impact. > Of course, it might get worse when they get hit by a faster driving traditional car. The real problem, as you mentioned, is when they get hit by a bigger car. The same problem we have where regular cars get hit by trucks, or trucks get hit by semis. It's pretty obvious size matters.

bluGill 6y ago
The fraction of the total mass that you are is larger though which makes the whole analysis complex.
timerol 6y ago
In a potentially deadly collision, what matters is the humans inside, not the car. Initial and final velocity are generally fixed, and the process of decelerating the human is what needs to be done safely. This is why cars have "crumple zones", decelerate the car overall more smoothly, and why airbags are used, to decelerate the human more smoothly. (We're talking "my neck didn't break" smooth.) You can easily imagine a large truck formed as a rigid body that actually crashes worse than a tiny EV with a few feet of crumple in front of the driver. But all else equal, it's generally easier to design a survivable crash when there's more car to work with. Though EVs make it easier, by being able to use the "frunk" as almost purely crash mitigation, instead of also needing rigidity for the engine. Though the biggest factor by far is relative speed. It's 10x safer for everyone to be going 25 mph instead of 40 mph.