During the design phase, car makers perform many types of crash tests to measure their endurance. These crash tests help make safer cars. Recently in a test, it has been found that only 2 out of 13 small SUVs do well in front-end crashes!
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is a nonprofit research group funded by auto insurance companies which develops crash tests to cut deaths, injuries and property damage from car and truck crashes. Lately, IIHS carried out some crash tests with small SUVs to measure the endurance of the cars during accidents.
All the SUVs were 2012 or 2013 models except the Subaru’s 2014 Forester. “Good” was the top rating in the car crash test, followed by “acceptable,” then “marginal” and “poor.” However, in the car crash test, the Subaru’s 2014 Forester was the only vehicle to get a “good” rating from the IIHS. On the other side, the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport received an “acceptable” rating. The cars that received “marginal” ratings were – the BMW X1, Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX-5, Volkswagen Tiguan, Honda’s CR-V and Jeep Wrangler. The cars that received “poor” ratings were – the new Ford Escape, Jeep Patriot, Buick Encore, Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tuscson.
The Forester and Outlander Sport each received the IIHS’ coveted “Top Safety Pick Plus” award because they performed well in multiple tests including the small offset crash. Only 20 vehicles across all car segments have received the IIHS “Top Safety Pick Plus” award. Besides, many of the other SUVs, including the Escape and CR-V, won “Top Safety Pick” designations, but didn’t get the “plus” due to their performance in the small offset tests. Toyota’s RAV-4 hasn’t done the testing yet because Toyota asked for a delay to improve the vehicle’s structure.
Last Thursday IIHS released the ratings of these cars and mentioned that only 2 of 13 small SUVs performed well in front-end crash tests. The institute also said that in many vehicles, a crash affecting one-quarter of the front end misses the main structures designed to absorb the impact of a crash.
Source: TwinCities
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