FIRST RESULTS OF SIDE IMPACT TESTS:


Only two small SUVs earn good ratings;

Only one rated good in front and side impact tests.

The Institute's side impact crash test represents what happens when a passenger vehicle is struck by a pickup truck or SUV. (Photo: IIHS)

For the first time, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has evaluated vehicles in side impact crash tests to provide consumer information. The best performers among the 12 small SUVs tested (2003 models) are the Subaru Forester and the Ford Escape with optional side airbags. In contrast, seven other small SUVs earned the lowest rating of poor — the Escape without optional side airbags, Toyota RAV4, Suzuki Grand Vitara/Vitara/Chevrolet Tracker, Land Rover Freelander, Mitsubishi Outlander, Saturn VUE, and Honda Element. The Jeep Wrangler and Honda CR-V are rated marginal and the Hyundai Santa Fe is acceptable.

The Subaru Forester is the only one of the 12 small SUVs to earn a good rating in not only the side impact crashworthiness evaluation but also the Institute's frontal offset crash test.

The Institute's side impact crash test represents what happens when a passenger vehicle is struck by a pickup truck or SUV.
The side impact test represents what happens when a passenger vehicle is struck in the side by a pickup truck or SUV at about 30 mph. The results of this test expand the Institute's testing programs for consumer information. For eight years the Institute has been providing comparative rankings of passenger vehicles based on performance in frontal offset crash tests at 40 mph. Now most new passenger vehicles are being designed to earn good ratings in this test.

"Our side impact crash test is severe," said Institute president Brian O'Neill. "Given the designs of today's vehicles, it's unlikely that people in real-world crashes as severe as this test would emerge uninjured. But with good side impact protection, people should be able to survive crashes of this severity without serious injuries."

O'Neill adds that he expects this new crashworthiness evaluation program to influence consumers' car-buying choices. "This is what happened with our frontal crash test results, and now we expect consumers will use the new test results to help them choose vehicles with good occupant protection in both front and side impacts."

Because consumers pay attention to the Institute's crash test results, automakers are expected to upgrade their vehicles' side impact protection, just as they've upgraded the protection their vehicles offer in frontal crashes.

"Ideally, passenger vehicles should be good performers in both tests — a double good," O'Neill said.

The configuration of the Institute's side impact test is a 31 mph perpendicular impact into the driver side of a passenger vehicle. The moving deformable barrier that strikes the test vehicle weighs 3,300 pounds and has a front end shaped to simulate the typical front end of a pickup or SUV. In each side-struck vehicle are two instrumented dummies, one in the driver seat and one in the rear seat behind the driver. These dummies are the size of a short (5th percentile) female or a 12-year-old child.

"This is the first U.S. consumer information test program to use a dummy that represents small females," O'Neill points out.

Forester is best performer and Outlander is worst: The side airbag in the Subaru Forester kept the injury measures recorded on the driver dummy relatively low. The dummy in the rear seat also recorded relatively low measures, although its head did hit the pillar behind the back door — an area required by federal standard to limit head impact forces. There was somewhat less intrusion into the Forester than into several of the other small SUVs the Institute tested.

In contrast, the Mitsubishi Outlander was the worst performer in the side impact test. There was more intrusion into the occupant compartment than in many of the other vehicles tested. The Outlander that was tested didn't have side airbags. The barrier struck the driver dummy's head, and the injury measures recorded on the head as well as on the torso and pelvis were very high.

Ford Escape with and without side airbags: Ford offers side airbags as optional equipment in the front seats of Escapes. The Institute tested Escapes with and without this option.

"There was a huge difference in the results," O'Neill said. "The driver dummy with the airbag to protect its head and torso recorded low injury measures, while high measures were recorded on the driver dummy in the Escape without side airbags. Even though the Escape with side airbags was a good performer in this test, it was only marginal in our frontal offset test."

Relative importance of side impacts: Today's passenger vehicles are more crashworthy than they used to be, especially in frontal crashes. As occupant protection in frontal crashes improves, the relative importance of protecting people in side impacts increases. From the early 1980s until 2000, car driver death rates decreased from 164 to 87 per million cars registered. This represents a 47 percent decline. Most of this improvement was in frontal crashes, in which driver death rates decreased from 86 to 41 per million (52 percent decline). The improvement was much smaller in side impacts — the death rate decreased from 42 to 32 per million (24 percent decline).