Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The risk of serious injuries after a collision is six times higher for passengers in a small car than for passengers in a regular passenger car. According to what the Belgian Safety Institute Vias published among some recommendations for improving safety.
According to local media, citing the Belgian News Agency, there are approximately 13,000 small cars on the roads in Belgium.
A study conducted by Vias on injury accidents involving small cars showed that passengers are more likely to be seriously injured than in an accident with a regular passenger car. The Vias Institute said: "There are few accidents involving small cars - 69 in 2023 - but due to the large difference in mass between a regular car and a small car, passengers in a small car are up to six times more likely to be seriously injured." He added that small cars
Microcars are less equipped with safety features. For example, in the event of a frontal collision, there is little protection for the head due to the lack of airbags. Small cars often do not have an ABS system.
Recognition and awareness
The Vias Institute has made five recommendations to governments to improve safety, such as adding a distinctive feature to the rear so that the small car can be more recognizable. “Forty percent of road users cannot distinguish it from a normal car,” he adds. Seven percent of respondents had no idea what a “motor vehicle” meant. Vias is therefore calling for these vehicles to be made more recognizable, for example by putting a “45 km/h” sticker, as is already the case in the Netherlands and Germany.

In addition to recognizability, Vias is also calling for a technical inspection of the vehicles. The safety institute also wants to do more to raise awareness among small car drivers, and to emphasize the fundamental differences between these vehicles and normal cars. Vias also wants more safety equipment in vehicles such as ABS and airbags and requires its own homologation rules for small cars.
A small car, or what some call the “European tuk-tuk”, is a motor vehicle with a limited top speed and more than two wheels, usually four. The minivan entered the road in France around 1980 and entered Dutch traffic in 1995. Minivans usually have two seats next to each other. In European regulations, four-wheeled minivans belong to the category L6e: Light mobile four-wheeler for the transport of passengers. , both in urban areas and outside. Minivans are very popular as an economical and environmentally friendly alternative.