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For years, cars have been doing better and better in crash tests. Now, a tough new test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has given a black eye to a number of luxury and near-luxury automakers.
Of 11 models tested, eight flunked a new test which is designed to mimic the most dangerous sort of frontal crash -- when a vehicle strikes another car or an object, such as a tree, with just a small portion of the front bumper.
Virtually all new cars in recent years have earned good ratings from the privately funded IIHS' crash tests, as automakers have worked to improve safety. So the IIHS created the new tougher test which is known as the "small overlap" impact.
"Nearly every new car performs well in other frontal crash tests conducted by the Institute and the federal government, but we still see more than 10,000 deaths in frontal crashes each year," Institute president Adrian Lund said.
In the new front crash test, the vehicle, traveling at a speed of 40 miles per hour, hits a barrier with just a quarter of the driver's side bumper, concentrating the impact force in a small area and causing the vehicle to spin.
About a quarter of the serious and fatal injuries seen each year are caused by "small overlap" impacts, according to the Institute. These crashes can also cause severe foot and leg injuries as the car's front wheel is pushed back into passenger compartment.
The smaller impact area makes it harder for the car's steel structures to spread impact forces around the driver. The spinning motion after the impact also makes it harder for the car's airbags to protect occupants from hitting parts of the car's interior.
In current front impact tests, which will still be used along with the new test, 40% of the car's front bumper strikes the barrier. Financed by auto insurers the IIHS performs a regimen of crash tests that's different from tests performed by government safety regulators.
In the most recent round of IIHS results only Honda's Acura TL and Volvo S60 earned the Institute's top rating of "good." Nissan's Infiniti G earned a rating of " Acceptable." The Acura TSX, BMW 3-series, Ford's Lincoln MKZ and Volkswagen CC earned a rating of "marginal," the second-worst of four possible ratings.
The Mercedes-Benz C-class, Lexus IS and ES and the Audi A4 earned the worst rating, "poor," in the new test.
Most automakers with models that performed poorly in the tests pointed out that their cars still meet all federal safety standards and have done well in other crash tests. Automakers also pledged to work to do better in the test with future models.
"With this new test, the Institute has raised the bar again and we will respond to this challenge as we design new vehicles," said Brian Lyons, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, which sells Lexus vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz objected to the new test.
"As a leader in automotive safety, we have full confidence in the protection that the C-Class affords its occupants -- and less confidence in any test that doesn't reflect that," the German automaker said in a statement.
Shouldn't they release this stuff before the cars are sold?
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This wouldn't happen if you didn't drive a peasant car like an Audi...
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I don't think many cars will fair well in that test, especially if we are talking about hitting the corner of the car dead straight. If we are going to go there, then most cars will weigh significantly more, which means you once again have to beef up the impact structures some more. Its kind of never ending.
Also I don't think that test is representative of real life impacts. First its rare to have a dead straight accident on the corner, then the issue of hitting a completely immobile object. Other than trees I don't think there are many unmovable objects to hit on the road.
As a consumer, on one hand it's great that they're constantly updating test standards to allow safer vehicles on the road, but also know that these are driving up the costs of vehicles.
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Shouldn't they release this stuff before the cars are sold?
I think they randomly buy one from the normal production. That way automakers can't cheat and beef up everything for the test and then cheap out on the production.
"As a leader in automotive safety, we have full confidence in the protection that the C-Class affords its occupants — and less confidence in any test that doesn't reflect that," Mercedes said in a statement.
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"With this new test, the Institute has raised the bar again and we will respond to this challenge as we design new vehicles," Toyota said
Seems like where the wheel ends up plays a large role in the rating of the cars
Damn, C Class looks considerably stronger than the IS but still a poor rating from IIHS.
The A pillar held it's shape better than any of the other cars IMO.
On the "acceptable" G you can actually see the wheel break right off,
The wheel pretty much came off the TL and almost tore the door off but it gets a good rating. I guess with the wheel flying out it doesn't push into the cabin like the C Class
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Originally Posted by EvoFire
I don't think many cars will fair well in that test, especially if we are talking about hitting the corner of the car dead straight. If we are going to go there, then most cars will weigh significantly more, which means you once again have to beef up the impact structures some more. Its kind of never ending.
Also I don't think that test is representative of real life impacts. First its rare to have a dead straight accident on the corner, then the issue of hitting a completely immobile object. Other than trees I don't think there are many unmovable objects to hit on the road.
cnn just talked about it and noted a double digit percentage of accidents happen this way
Wow, some of the videos are shocking to be honest with you guys. I would expect better for cars in this price range.
hmm the video you've shown are not really the same kind of tests. Most of those cars failing the small overlap tests are fine with the normal tests when the crash area is covering a bigger frontal area.
I find it odd that a few years back most of these cars were passing these safety tests without any major issues, we're now approaching 2013 and all of a sudden the quality has gone straight down. I guess to save money car manufacturers are skimming on things the consumer can't physically see like overall build quality.
hmm the video you've shown are not really the same kind of tests. Most of those cars failing the small overlap tests are fine with the normal tests when the crash area is covering a bigger frontal area.
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