I wonder what data there is about the performance of Insights in real crashes. Has anyone been seriously hurt (or even killed) in an Insight? - is it bad manners to even ask about such things?
The Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) is the Insurance industry's clearing house for real world crash data. (It is the data collection arm of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.) Its figures come from actual crash & theft loss claims, not from government crash tests, which are only a measure of a car or truck's preformance in those static test situations, and often not a good reflection of how a product will actually do in a crash.
HLDI rates each vehicle based upon claims costs in three categories, injury (inculdes deaths), collision and theft. In general, HLDI ratings show that some small cars like Insight, though not all, do VERY poorly in terms of injury claims. In fact, some are so bad, after you read the data you probaly would never sit in one, let alone be a driver or passenger in one. By contrast, large pickups & SUVs do best, which, of course, de-bunks claims that they are unsafe.
HLDI ranks on a numeric scale, with a score of 100 being "average". They classify by vehicle type, and show averages by type as well. Just focusing on injury data in a couple of categories, "Very Large" cars (i.e., Ford Crown Victoria) average an injury score of 63. By contrast, Small 4dr cars (i.e., VW Golf, Honda Civic, Dodge Neon) get an average score of 158. Two door small cars = 150. (In this category Hondas do poorly, Civic SI = 139, Civic coupe = 173.) Mini cars (Toyta Echo) get a score of...get ready, 198!
By contrast, Very Large pickups (Ford F250) get a score of 47, Large 4wd (Ford Expedition) SUVs = 65, etc., etc., proving in the real world, physics does indeed hold sway.
Unfortunately Insight is not rated, probably because of relatively small samples. However, I would figure the Insight to do about the same as a similar sized little car. Reflecing this, insurance on my '04 Insight was only a bit lower than that of my former '04 Ford F350. Reason cited by Liberty Mutual is "claims costs".
In general, HLDI rates larger vehicles better than smaller ones, but not always, which means a buyer would do well to check this data out before purchasing an auto or truck. HLDI just reports the news and has no "dog in the fight". You can check them out at:
http://www.iihs.org/