Major change in crashworthiness evaluations by IIHS

Frontal offset crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety since 1995 have prompted huge improvements in how vehicles protect people in frontal crashes. Now this consumer information program is undergoing a major change.

The Institute evaluates the crashworthiness of passenger vehicles based on 40 mph frontal offset tests in which the driver side of the front of a vehicle strikes a deformable barrier. Institute researchers evaluate the crash test performance of each vehicle and assign comparative ratings of good, acceptable, marginal, or poor. More than 200 car, SUV, and pickup truck designs have been rated.

When the Institute began evaluating frontal crashworthiness by vehicle group, beginning in the mid-1990s, about half of the 80 vehicles that were tested earned marginal or poor ratings. More were rated poor than good.

Then manufacturers responded by changing the designs of their vehicles to improve frontal crashworthiness. The result has been a turnaround in the frontal ratings. Eighty-eight of the 106 current passenger vehicle designs the Institute has evaluated earn good ratings. None is poor, and only two of the 106 current designs are rated marginal.

"This program has been a huge success," said Institute president Adrian Lund, "and because of this success frontal offset tests no longer are providing consumers with much useful information to differentiate among vehicles' frontal crashworthiness. We've reached the point where we can declare victory and move on."

Details of test verification
Moving on doesn't mean abandoning frontal offset crash protection. Instead the Institute is initiating a new approach involving evaluations based on manufacturers' own frontal tests of vehicles meeting requirements established by the Institute. The manufacturers are providing detailed information from their offset tests, including video, and the Institute is assessing this information, assigning ratings, and conducting audit tests to verify manufacturers' results.

Only redesigned vehicles with immediate predecessors that earned the top rating of good in previous Institute tests are eligible for verification. Substantially redesigned vehicles with significant changes in size, weight, or body style aren't eligible. The Institute will continue testing these vehicles.

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