Prius v rated poor on new IIHS small overlap frontal crash test

I tend to view not-low mortality rates as a surrogate marker for 'nasty accident in large numbers.'
I'm happy to give the benefit of the doubt to the agencies who think this type of accident injury is worthwhile for society for pay for to avoid. Now, if only whiplash protection was widespread ..

 

I recently came a cross a fatal accident where a prius driver was parked in the left turn lane and an suv doing 50 drifted over slightly in the oncoming lane. Looked very similar to the iihs result. This is another (non-tree) example of a small overlap frontal crash. And yes, redesigning cars to respond better to these crashes will save lives. While controlled crash tests don't exactly mimick real world crashes, they do help us learn about weak points in design.

 

There are cogent arguments against this particular crash test being reflective of real-world accidents. How often do you hit a solid steel/concrete wall in that particular fashion? When you hit a car, there's a lot of energy absorbed by the other car, cars glance off each other, etc. So until they start crashing cars into OTHER cars, the tests are academic only, and ratings should be taken lightly. The fact that MOST cars get a poor rating should tell us that the test itself is flawed.

 

Or that most cars are not engineered for that scenario -- which I think is the case here.

Personally, I am more interested in advances in the headrest that prevent whiplash than this particular problem being discussed.

 

not just bad weather but frequently unsafe speed is involved ( yes the human factor ). Tell those folks to slow down and they look at you as though you're acting like some kind of old granny. Too bad that driving defensively can't be an alternate option to building a nearly bulletproof car that's still affordable for the middle income family.

 

I don't know how this zombie thread came back to life but, yes. I know its heartless, but if you drive at unsafe speed, and prove it by killing yourself in a car with 9 airbags, then well, darwin wins. We don't really need headlines saying an efficient station wagon that was very safe when built now fails a new test that selection of the worst drivers is killing.

 

rdg and austin,

I doubt that IIHS makes up tests for crashes that almost never happen. The hitting a solid object crash does happen less often than it used to, because of the deflectors that you see in front of bridge abutments, breakaway sign poles, etc.

I bet that a lot of the accidents that remain come from people falling asleep at the wheel. Anyone on this list who has never driven when overtired can say I'm wrong, but I'm OK with trying to minimize injury from these accidents.

And Sage, yeah, I would like more work on whiplash too.

 

It seems to me North American cars can not compete when it comes to quality so they are coming up with some artificial crash tests, what next angle crash test :-/

 

certainly. Nice. We need safer infrastructure and my local DOT keeps statistics on that. But remember IIHS is a PAC that represents giant corporations and likes to set rules make them money. I am sure they want you safer also, but there are trade offs. They want heavier cars because they are more expensive. Insurance companies get more money if more expensive cars crash. IIHS has been instrumental for the cafe rules that favored SUVs. They were a leading organization to allow bigger vehicles to use more gas, because bigger vehicles are heavier, and you want a tank to protect the occupants. Now that guy in the small efficient car is less safe from all this. Its harder to see around the big SUV. A small car gets hit by a SUV and the SUV is likely to win. There are trade offs here.

The prius v probably is as safe as a big SUV, unless you get hit by one. We don't need to be in a bigger safer tank arms race. I would like it if we were in smaller vehicles, and the guy trying to hit me, had less weight behind the blow. Is a prius v really less safe than that 11 year old SUV someone might be trading in?

I am sure some people get in these accidents by being asleep or drunk or distracted (hitting their kids in the back seat, texting, etc) etc. If you are doing one of these things you are more likely to kill someone else too, like a bicycle rider, pedestrian, etc. If you need to go to a bigger heavier vehicle to feel safe while falling asleep at the wheel, you may be less likely to pull over and rest. Lets learn safe driving people, and not expect PACs of giant corporations to protect us.

Now there are reasonable things to do to make cars safer. Automakers often make the advances especially mercedes and volvo. Maybe more companies can put in devices that warn drivers they need to stop driving. I wouldn't want those mandated though. NHSTA is our governmental organization and they do update tests. I am not saying no testing or improvements. I just think we have gone too far, when a very safe car is rated a top safety pick one year, then gets a poor the next.

 

Testing agencies learn from real world statistics and develop tests to simulate what happens in the real world. What is wrong with that?

No we don't want tanks because then they would brake less effectively and we'd die of carbon pollution.

I'd anticipate the next gen cars will do better on this test because marketing wants the big star next to their vehicles name.

 

The most alarming part, for me anyway, is the front wheel gets pushed thru the firewall into the drivers footwell, essentially occupying the space where your legs used to be.

 

The kid across the street from me had this sort of crash in a Fiero. I saw the dent in the seat the wheel made when I went by the lot where his car was towed. Ouch. (He broke his foot IIRC. Luck.)

I think the idea of encouraging engineers to think also of this sort of impact in their computer design sessions is a reasonable one. Bet it wouldn't add but 10 pounds to the structure.

 

Solution seems clear: don't hedge it; make it a full frontal impact.

 

Unfortunately most people don't steer INTO an accident. They steer away from it, often resulting in a near miss.

Or in this case, another driver swerves into your lane.

UPDATE: Hamptons Developer Saunders Killed in Crash; Other Driver, Son of Top LI Developer Rechler, Cited - Police & Fire - East Hampton, NY Patch

Looks like this is a real world case of the Prius' severe deficiency in its frontal crash structure. The dead guys car looks almost exactly like the IIHS car post crash.

 

Well, that's reassuring, especially since I wasn't planning to replace my '11 for another 2-3 years. Time to sign up for a will with LegalZoom.com. Also must see I'll have enough insurance to cover my sure to be closed casket funeral.