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WASHINGTON -- Insurance industry researchers are giving high marks for safety to the tiny Smart car. But they also are warning consumers about the generally higher risks of small vehicles.

In test results made public today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says the Smart ForTwo earned "good" ratings -- the organization's top score -- in frontal and side-impact crashes.

For protecting occupants in rear impacts, the institute rated Smart's seats and headrests "acceptable," the second-highest score.

Although bigger and heavier vehicles are better overall, institute President Adrian Lund said, "The engineers of the Smart did their homework and designed a high level of safety into a very small package."

Without front crush space, Lund said, the Smart's restraint system must do more to protect occupants than systems in other vehicles.

Consumers who seek better fuel economy don't have to buy the lightest, smallest vehicles, Lund added.

As with federal safety tests, the institute's frontal impact crashes do not produce results that can be compared across weight classes, the institute says.

In federal tests made public last month, the Smart ForTwo got decent but unspectacular scores. In both federal and insurance institute tests, the driver's door came unlatched in side-impact crashes.