The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has recently announced its first new frontal crash test since 1995. The new test consists of a small overlap frontal crash test.
This test simulates, at 40 mph (64 km/h), crashes that occur on a car's front outer edges which often fall outside of the required crush-zone structures. The transfer of energy from the crash is directly transmitted through to the front wheel, suspension and firewall.
The new test is a direct result of information pulled from a 2009 Institute study where nearly 25% of vehicles involved in frontal accidents, resulting in serious or fatal injury to front occupants, were of the small overlap type.
The big news here is that of the 11 midsize luxury cars evaluated, only three of them earned good or acceptable ratings. In an unusual twist, at least for Toyota, their Lexus IS and ES cars performed poorly. The best results were had by the Acura TL and Volvo S60.
This test simulates, at 40 mph (64 km/h), crashes that occur on a car's front outer edges which often fall outside of the required crush-zone structures. The transfer of energy from the crash is directly transmitted through to the front wheel, suspension and firewall.
The new test is a direct result of information pulled from a 2009 Institute study where nearly 25% of vehicles involved in frontal accidents, resulting in serious or fatal injury to front occupants, were of the small overlap type.
The big news here is that of the 11 midsize luxury cars evaluated, only three of them earned good or acceptable ratings. In an unusual twist, at least for Toyota, their Lexus IS and ES cars performed poorly. The best results were had by the Acura TL and Volvo S60.