Small car safety: An issue that needs further evaluation.

The physical characteristics of smaller size, lesser weight, and shorter length have caused safety experts to question the smaller car's ability to adequately protect its occupants in an accident. Some vehicle and highway safety experts have predicted that the shift to smaller cars will result in an increase in passenger car fatalities while others claim that the safety picture for the smaller car is not known. Smaller cars comprised about 39% of the U.S. / fleet in 1979 compared with about 4% in 1960.