WASHINGTON — Solely two out of 15 autos within the small crossover class earned an total “good” ranking within the first frontal crash check within the U.S. to incorporate a rear dummy, the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security mentioned Tuesday.
The 2022-23 Ford Escape, constructed after Could, and the 2021-23 Volvo XC40 had been the one autos to earn a “good” ranking within the institute’s up to date reasonable overlap entrance analysis.
The tougher crash check provides a dummy representing a small lady or 12-year-old little one positioned within the second row behind the driving force. It additionally makes use of new metrics specializing in the accidents most regularly seen in rear-seat passengers.
The 2021-23 Toyota RAV4 earned an “acceptable” ranking, whereas the Audi Q3, Nissan Rogue and Subaru Forester from these mannequin years earned a “marginal” ranking.
Autos that earned a poor ranking are the:
• 2021-22 Buick Encore
• 2021-23 Chevrolet Equinox
• 2021-22 Honda CR-V
• 2021-22 Honda HR-V
• 2021 Hyundai Tucson
• 2021 Jeep Compass
• 2021-23 Jeep Renegade
• 2021-22 Mazda CX-5
• 2022-23 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
Nonetheless, all 15 autos earned a “good” ranking within the institute’s unique crash check — launched in 1995 — the place a automobile travels at 40 mph towards a barrier, and a dummy representing an average-size man is positioned within the driver’s seat.
The brand new model makes use of the identical check velocity, offset and barrier as the unique, the institute mentioned.
“The unique reasonable overlap check was our first analysis and the lynchpin of the institute’s crash testing program,” IIHS President David Harkey mentioned in an announcement. “Because of automakers’ enhancements, drivers in most autos are practically 50 p.c much less prone to be killed in a frontal crash as we speak than they had been 25 years in the past.”
Harkey mentioned the up to date crash check is “a problem to producers to carry those self same advantages to the again seat.”
To earn a “good” ranking, measurements recorded by sensors within the second-row dummy “should not exceed limits indicating an extreme threat of harm to the pinnacle, neck, chest, stomach or thigh,” the insurer-funded institute mentioned.
Crash tensioners that tighten seat belts and stop occupants within the entrance seat from flying ahead additionally may benefit rear occupants, the institute mentioned. Different options comparable to rear-seat airbags and seat belts that inflate to mitigate the results of crash forces additionally might assist. Nonetheless, fewer than half of recent autos have superior restraint programs within the rear seat, the institute mentioned.
“We’re excited to launch the primary frontal crash check within the U.S. to incorporate a rear-occupant dummy,” mentioned Marcy Edwards, the institute’s senior analysis engineer who led the event of the brand new analysis. “This can be a implausible alternative to quickly ship huge security advantages by adapting applied sciences that we already know to be efficient.”