As a single parent I can tell you that children are not to be put in the front seat until they are 12. So the idea of putting a child seat in the front seat of this car (or any car with passenger airbags) is extremely dangerous.

I live in Chicago and would love to have this for the same reasons that Farhad outlines but I am afraid this car is an impossibility for anyone with a child under 12.

I drive a 2002 Toyota Echo that I got new for about $12000. I drove this car cross-country twice during the summer blasting the AC and averaged 43 miles a gallon. My echo is a four door with a roomy trunk and is small enough that I can fit it in just about any open space. Frankly, I fail to see the point of the Smart, especially since, if I recall, it runs on Premium gas!!

Thanks for your note; I've just posted this explanation at the end of the piece:

Readers have pointed out that it isn't safe to place a child seat in the front passenger seat -- a fast-deploying airbag can seriously injure your child. This is good advice for most cars. Fortunately the Smart detects whether there's an adult or a child sitting in the passenger seat. When the weight falls below a threshold, the airbag turns off (there's an indicator light which tells you it's off, too).

You make a good point about using this in conjunction with the occassional ZipCar-- given that, I think that there is a reasonably good sized demographic for which this makes sense-- it may still be a niche product, but I think its a niche that will respond favorably to the car.

Your end comment about child seats is important, and got me thinking about kids riding in these things. I've read elsewhere that the frames on SmartCars are pretty darn strong. Regardless, I think that I'll bust a blood vessel when I inevitably see someone driving a smartcar on the freeway with a child seat.

I personally would not trust the airbag auto-detector with my childs life. I have that sort of technology in my car, and it occasionally thinks that my bag of dry-cleaning or my laptop is a full-sized passenger.

How does it handle on ice and snow?

It's the ultimate ricer. A 3 ft high wing, 20" rims, a coffee can sized fart pipe, bondo grey body kit. Black out the windows throw in a huge ass sound system, neon underkit. It will be awesome. In antifreeze green and silver.

As someone who has installed a couple child safety seats, I can tell you that you have to a exert an extraordinary amount of force to strap the seat down. The child seat, or its base station, when properly installed, keeps the factory seat tightly compressed. I bet the sensor would read that compression as an adult's weight.

As a side note, I've driven the Smart ForTwo, and I agreed with Farhad's assessment of the driving experience entirely. My Toyota Echo is a lot more fun to drive, and gets better gas mileage. It can also carry my modestly sized family of three, which is a real bonus.

I think the bigger issue is that I have two children, and I know sticking them in one seat belt is unsafe, no matter how smart the air bag is. I just found it odd that you would say that it's the perfect car for a single parent, when the majority of single parents I know have more than one child.

It still looks like an interesting car, but I think efficient cars that more than 2 people can fit in have a much bigger impact on the environment, due to the much bigger market. Not that environmental impact seems to be the main point of this car, with only 33 MPG, and then only if you are really careful.

Didn't you get the memo. It ne-ver rains in Cal-forn-ya.

I take exception with one thing you said:

I was (and still am) a band geek. My first date ever was with a cheerleader, and I did just fine, sir.

-iduckles

I love my Echo too. Why oh why did Toyota replace it with the Yaris? Sure the Yaris is little sexier looking, but it's also heavier, so it's just not as peppy as the Echo. The Yaris is also missing the Echo's fantastic assortment of interior pockets. Where is my Camelbak bottle supposed to go?

... comes standard on the Smart for a reason : the car probably won't stay on the road without it.

The Smart was launched in Europe 10 years ago, around the same time as the Mercedez-Benz (short, tall) A-Class, which famously flunked the standard 'Elk test' and would roll over without electronic stability control.

The Smart was originally designed by Mercedes-Benx -- no wonder they would not release it without ESP.

BTW -- after 10 years 'on the road' in Europe, the Smart remains a marginal presence and is widely discarded as a joke.

If you can get your hands on one, I suppose. They grossly underestimated demand for these vehicles, and now what is supposed to be a very efficient and inexpensive vehicle is available only to those willing to shell out almost twice the retail price on Ebay and other secondary sales sites. Revolutionary? Their execs certainly aren't.

Just a thought on how times have changed. When I was a little kid (real little -- this is from one of my earliest memories) my parents had an MG two seater. When all three of us had to drive somewhere, they would just throw me up in the rear dashboard area, laying down. And I don't think anybody ever thought anything of it! Of course, this was in the late sixties, and I can remember that most cars didn't even have standard seat belts at the time, and certainly not any with chest straps.

My all-time favorite car was my 1985 Honda Civic. Four doors, manual transmission, and it got 50 mpg on the highway. With a 10-gallon tank, I could drive 500 miles before stopping. Of course, it didn't have a lot of the heavy safety features required in today's cars, and getting it to 70mph on the highway was a bit tricky. Nevertheless, it was great!

Doesn't it seem like automotive technology is moving backward? Why do we need a ridiculously expensive hybrid or one of these crappy Smart Cars when the technology of 1985 is cheap, easily available and more fuel efficient?