Cars, trucks, and SUVs keep growing. One of America’s largest car safety testing organizations has changed its crash tests to consider that fact. The first results with the new tests are in, and they are not encouraging. Of 20 small SUVs subjected to new side-impact tests, only one – the 2021 Mazda CX-5 – earned a rating of “Good.”
America’s Two Crash Testing Agencies
Two organizations perform crash tests on nearly every car for sale in the United States.
One is the federal government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It was not involved in this round of tests.
The other is a safety lab funded by insurance companies. Insurance companies have a financial interest in making car crashes as rare and safe as possible. So a group of them fund their own safety agency – the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). It conducts its own battery of tests, which are in some ways more extensive than government testing.
Both agencies perform side-impact tests.
Why and How Tests Were Updated
Side impacts cause about one-quarter of traffic deaths.
According to the IIHS, side-impact crashes caused 23% of traffic deaths in 2019, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
The IIHS tends to update its tests more often than NHTSA. This is probably because any change to government policy requires a thorough public review that takes time. The IIHS can skip that step.
For 2021, the IIHS has updated its side-impact tests. In prior years, the institute simulated side-impact crashes by slamming a 3,300-pound weight into the side of each vehicle at 31 mph. But the average weight of new vehicles has been steadily growing as Americans have bought more large trucks and SUVs.
This year the IIHS changed its side-impact test to use a 4,180-pound weight moving at 37 mph. The change reflects an increase in the average size of cars on the road. They also changed the shape of the weight so that it “acts more like a real SUV or pickup when it hits another vehicle.”
The institute awards a rating of Good, Acceptable, Marginal, or Poor based on how well each vehicle protects simulated passengers in the tests.
The results
This first round of testing involved only compact SUVs. Scores were:
Good:
Acceptable:
Marginal:
Poor:
Harder Tests Usually Mean Lower Scores
The news is not great for car shoppers now, but it will likely lead to positive change.
“We developed this new test because we suspected there was room for more progress, and these results confirm that,” IIHS President David Harkey says. “The good rating for the CX-5 shows that robust protection in a more severe side crash is achievable.”
The IIHS has driven change by strengthening its standards before. Last year, the institute adopted new standards for headlights as part of its safety ratings. The move caused many automakers to make upgraded headlights standard equipment, rather than an added cost option, on hundreds of new cars.
The new side-impact test will not be used as criteria for the institute’s Top Safety Pick awards until 2023, giving manufacturers time to improve their side-impact protection measures in a bid to keep their awards.
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October 28, 2021 at 09:39PM
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Side-Impact Tests Get Harder, and Only One SUV Earns Top Rating - Kelley Blue Book
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