DeltaV of 70 is considered non-surviveable in any event, in any car. The front end crushing would have amputated the legs of the occupants and they would have bled out before help could arrive. The survival of the upper part of the 'cage', which received no direct impact, proves nothing at all about the potential survival of the contents.
I would be much more interested in actual crash test dummy studies of a DeltaV of, say, 40 or so. That's where there's probably a significant difference.
Just passed along to add to the conversation.
Personally I’m not a fan of the Smart car as it seems to be overpriced for what it offers BEFORE even addressing the safety considerations.
20 years ago that was true... not any more. Safety cage construction, crumple zones, air bags all work together to make that delta V survivable. The problem with a smart car and other minicars is while the safety cage is very strong, there isn’t much crumple zone to spread out the deceleration.
Some interesting tests were done taking 2 vehicles of the same model, one new and one ten years old and smashing them head on at around 30-35mph. The results were than the person in the new vehicle would probably survive and maybe walk away. The person in the 10 y/o vehicle would be killed or at best never walk again.