Smart Squeezing Champs: 19 Teenagers in a Fortwo

Just the Facts:

• Nineteen high-school girls in Karachi, Pakistan, got into a Smart Fortwo and stayed there for 10 seconds.
• Previous record dates only to January 2010 and belonged to a climbing gym team from Australia.
• Leader affirms that all participating girls were at least 5 feet tall.

KARACHI, Pakistan — A high-school student parlayed her Smart Fortwo, a birthday gift, into a pending Guinness world record after she and 18 others squeezed themselves inside and stayed inside, with the doors closed, for 10 seconds.

Aymen Saleem Yousuf and the other teenage girls pulled off the stunt at the Creek Club Karachi with a jury watching, including cricket star Wasim Akram. The participants were drawn from various high schools around Karachi, who trained for days. "All the girls are more than 5 feet," said Yousuf in an interview at the event.

The new record is pending but if affirmed, it will break a standing record that was set only last January. Members of the Sydney, Australia, climbing center Climb-Fit got 18 people into a Smart Fortwo less than a year ago, calling it "a bit of Tetris thinking." The video shows the team had a safety word — "broccoli" — to use in case of trouble.

Fitting lots of people into a Smart is popular. A video posted in mid-2008 shows the Ultimate Guinness World Records TV program pitting rival cheerleading teams against each other. The German team won with 13 cheerleaders, but they had to drive the car over a line and then climb out in a timed event.

Inside Line says: Chances are there will be a few more attempts before the absolute maximum number is reached. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent