New York Times: WITH gasoline prices having settled past $3 a gallon and increased talk about global warming, one of those darling little fuel-efficient cars like the Smart Fortwo, Toyota Yaris or Honda Fit may seem more attractive than ever. But are they safe? Knowing for sure is an enormously and perhaps hopelessly complex task. One problem is human ingenuity. People find so many ways to crash that one can’t test for all of them. Then there are variations in engineering. Also, cars of different …