I know this is a fuel tank leak test, but the front seats literally failed and collapsed. Poor rear passenger would get hit from behind and then squashed by the front occupants.
That sled is supposed to mimic a car, but imagine being hit by a pickup or SUV and being a backseat passenger. The back of your head becomes the bumper. It's a death trap. You can get similar gas mileage in much more substantial vehicles such as a Civic or Altima.
I was surprised to see the Spark's seats fail like that. Recently our 2017 Chevy Volt was rear-ended by a 2014 Ford Explorer traveling at least 45 mph, (no braking) drunk driver. Pushed us into a Chevy Equinox, which got pushed into two other cars. There were 4 passengers in our Volt. When the airbag dust settled, all four doors opened easily. All of the seats were intact and never failed. Passenger in front seat was a good 250 lbs me, the driver 195. The right rear passenger knocked unconscious, seriously bruised leg, left rear bruised but OK. Not one passenger had whiplash. I wound up with a spinal fracture, injured hands, and bruises. The Volt's seats, even in the rear hatch area, folded up and down post accident in perfect alignment. The Volt is a tank. I wish to thank the GM engineers for making a compact vehicle that took a tremendous impact (even getting knocked in the air 5 feet), and it's passenger compartment remained structurally intact.
It's not a american market car anyway this car thrives in narrow and short urban areas of europe. I live in europe and I gotta say this car is good. Good milage has decent amount of safety features, and we surely don't have f150s roaming in the roads as much as they do in USA.
The rear crumple zones of current vehicles are designed far too soft in a rear end collision. The design is to allow the rear axle to protect the fuel tank in an accident. That may work, but the passengers in the rear are not going to be without serious injuries in a crash like this in any vehicle.
i’ve had a chevy spark as my rental car for 3 months now while my veloster N has been in the shop, i love seeing this car get absolutely demolished. been watching crash tests of this shoebox for 30 minutes now.
I drove one of these as a rental last week and was so terrified the entire time bc there is no buffer between the back and the passengers. Its so tiny we could get 2 duffle bags in the trunk max. People kept flying up on our rear bc of how compact it was & I was anxious the entire time for my 2 kids in the back. Not worth it imo. My daughter is 5 ft even and she stood taller than the entire car. It is a death trap.
