In an article for Automotive News by Harry Stoffer, the senior development engineer for safety systems at Delphi Corp, the supplier of passenger restraints for the Smart ForTwo, described how the tiny cars may be a harbinger of things to come in occupant protection.

Designed to overcome the lack of available crush space around the passengers in the front seat, the ForTwo's airbags and seat belts do much more of the protective work than in a conventional car. The location of the ForTwo's engine, behind the occupants, is also a favorable safety factor.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the ForTwo a rating of four out of five starts for front impact with three stars for passenger front impact, three for rollover resistance, and five for driver-side impact.

The ForTwo is a good example of superior occupant protection in vehicles designed for maximum fuel efficiency. Its advanced features include tensioners that tighten the seat belts when rapid deceleration is detected, load limiters that serve to reduce belt pressure against the chest during a collision, and modular seats in which the headrests are integrated.

Sales of the Smart ForTwo in the United States began in January 2008, with the company accepting more than 30,000 deposits even before the tiny vehicles were in dealer showrooms. The ForTwo, as the name implies, is a two-seat car with a 1-liter engine that gets approximately 45 mpg and puts out extremely low emissions.