[yellowapple]

Better mileage than a Prius without even being a hybrid seems like exactly the sort of reason why someone would want one. And with EVs coming, kei cars/trucks seem like perfect candidates for EV conversions.

Re: crash safety, I wonder if it's possible to retrofit some extra safety measures on these things?

[OneEyedRobot]

>Re: crash safety, I wonder if it's possible to retrofit some extra safety measures on these things?

That's a good question for any older car. I can think of a number of measures, but it would be interesting to see some real engineering go into retrofits. Besides new/proper seat belts an interesting angle would be a partial roll cage that is safe for a helmetless driver.

I'd love to a have a Kei truck purely for around town (we don't have any traffic lights to give you an idea) in snowy weather. Small = good when the streets shrink due to plowing, small = good for dragging out of a ditch, cheap = good just because it's easy to hurt a car in serious snow.

[fnord77]

> Re: crash safety, I wonder if it's possible to retrofit some extra safety measures on these things?

Mass and/or crumple zones help absorb and deflect energy in crashes. There's no room for a crumple zone in a kei car's perimeter. Smart Fourtwo got close, but those are as wide as a normal car.

And perfectly rigid vehicle is dangerous because it transmits the collision forces to the passengers - high G deceleration will destroy your organs

[josephcsible]

> And with EVs coming, kei cars/trucks seem like perfect candidates for EV conversions.

Is there enough room for batteries for them to have a reasonable amount of range?