Ultra-light vehicles crunched in crash tests

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Those tiny electric cars you sometimes see on the road may be cheap, they aren't very safe, new crash tests show.

Low Speed Vehicles, electric cars similar to golf carts, don't fare well in even relatively low-speed crashes with passenger cars, according to tests carried out by the privately funded Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The Institute also crash-tested a popular minitruck, a type of very small truck intended primarily for driving around work sites, with similar results.

Vehicles like these aren't required to have the same safety equipment as passenger cars. For instance, while seatbelts are required, LSVs don't have to have airbags. Doors are optional and, when installed, are more for protection from wind and weather than vehicle impacts.

LSVs can't go faster than 25 miles per hour, under National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But most states allow them to drive on public roads with speeds limits of up to 35 mph. At those speeds, regular passenger cars and trucks present a grave danger to occupants of LSVs and minitrucks, the Institute said.

"On the one hand, you have NHTSA saying these vehicles were meant for low-risk, controlled environments, or farm use, and on the other hand states are pushing them out onto highways," said David Zuby, the Institute's chief research officer, in a statement.

"LSVs weren't designed to protect people in a crash with a microcar like the Smart ForTwo, let alone larger cars, SUVs and pick-ups in everyday traffic," Zuby said.

The Institute performed side impact crash tests using an electric LSV made by a subsidiary of the Chrysler Group called a Gem Car. The cars were subjected to a 31 mph side hits from a standard side crash impact test barrier as well as from a Smart ForTwo ultra-compact car.

In both tests, instruments on the crash test dummy suggested what would have been "severe or fatal injury to a real person." The Smart ForTwo's airbags and steel body protected its crash test dummy from serious trouble, the Institute said.

"Gem vehicles offer customers an inexpensive, clean solution for low speed environments and comply with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standards for low speed vehicles which limit the maximum speed of the vehicle to 25 miles per hour," Chrysler said in a statement.

The Institute also tested a 2008 Tiger Star minitruck in a front-end collision with a 2010 Ford Ranger. In the test, the Tiger Star was traveling at 25 mph and the Ranger at 35 mph.

In the crash test, the head of the test dummy in the Tiger Star hit the steering wheel and its left leg and right foot were trapped by the clutch pedal as the cab crushed in.

A Tiger Truck spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on the crash test results.

As of 2008, there were an estimated 45,000 LSVs on America's roads, the Insurance Institute said. Both state and federal governments offer tax incentives for the purchase of LSVs.