The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently developed a new crash test program aimed at ensuring that manufacturers are focusing on the safety of front seat passengers as well as drivers.
According to IIHS, the test was developed after they found that some manufacturers were not developing enough safety features and protection to the right sides of vehicles when it came to small overlap front crash protection.
Specifically, the test involves sending a vehicle into a barrier at 40mph with approximately 25 percent of its front end overlapping the barrier on the driver side, which mimics what happens when a car’s driver-side corner collides with an object.
In order to earn the Institute’s 2018 Top Safety Pick designation, a vehicle must receive a “good” or “acceptable” passenger-side crash rating.
Among midsize vehicles produced for 2017 and 2018, 10 out of 13 earned a good rating, while the Volkswagen Jetta earned an acceptable rating and the Volkswagen Passat and the Chevrolet Malibu earned marginal ratings.
Compared with a group of small SUVs produced from 2014 to 2016 that were tested for research, none of the 2017-2018 midsize models earned a poor or marginal structural rating. However, five of the vehicles were found to have inconsistent airbag protection, which could put passenger-side riders at risk of serious head injuries.
IIHS senior research engineer Becky Mueller said the midsize cars IIHS tested didn’t have any glaring structural deficiencies on the right side and that optimizing airbags and safety belts to provide better head protection for front-seat passengers appeared to be the most urgent task now.
Vehicles used in IIHS testing included the Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Lincoln MKZ, 2018 Subaru Legacy, 2018 Subaru Outback, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 6, Nissan Altima, Nissan Maxima, Toyota Camry, Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Passat and Chevrolet Malibu.
The test follows a 2016 IIHS report that published the results of passenger-side small overlap tests of small SUVs with good driver side ratings. In that report, only one vehicle, the 2016 Hyundai Tuscon, earned a good passenger side-rating.
“When we published that research, we said we were considering adding a passenger-side test to our awards criteria,” Mueller said. “Clearly, some manufacturers were paying attention. Many of the cars in this group are equipped with improved passenger airbags that appear to be designed to do well in our test and in an oblique test that the government is considering adding to its safety ratings.”