2010 Prius II Kids and Safety Review

CPSDarren · Sep 8, 2009

I wrote this up for anyone looking for basic safety and carseat information. A little different perspective than other reviews. The full, very long and very boring version can be found here along with photos-

2010 Toyota Prius Review: Kids and Safety

The safety related content is copied below with permission from the author;-)

Safety is one of my main concerns, of course. Stability control and side curtain airbags with rollover sensing were included or I wouldnâ€™t have even considered it. There are also side torso airbags up front, along with the frontal airbags and the driverâ€™s knee airbag. Handling seems secure, without play or numbness in the steering. Braking was good and predictable. My only misgiving was the lack of crash test results at the time we purchased. Toyota added weight to the new Prius. Itâ€™s now over 3000 pounds. While weight isnâ€™t great for city mileage, it does come in handy in vehicle vs. vehicle head-on crashes. Supposedly, weight reductions in the drivetrain and other areas were offset by chassis improvements for overall stiffness to improve crash protection and handling. I wasnâ€™t disappointed when the IIHS gave the 2010 Prius a â€œTop Safety Pickâ€ award shortly after our purchase. The European 3rd Gen Prius also did quite well, getting a 5-star overall EuroNCAP rating and relatively high individual category marks all around.

The NHTSA results were decent, but not great. A pair of 4-star ratings in the frontal crash tests. The side impact test numbers were actually quite good overall, but a slightly high thoracic trauma number in the rear seat kept it from earning a 5-star rating like the front seat. The Prius also got a 4-star rollover rating with a 1.36 stability factor and a â€œno-tipâ€ dynamic rating. Thatâ€™s also pretty good. Confused from all these different results? You have every right to be! Fortunately, thereâ€™s an organization called Informed For Life.

Theyâ€™ve taken all the statistics and analysis from the IIHS, NHTSA and other resources. That allows them to combine all these results and safety features into a single risk score that can be used to compare any passenger vehicle in terms of safety, regardless of weight or class. This is all based on research, rather than on a whim (like some other publications have done). They give the 2010 Prius a risk SCORE of 64.9. That is a very good SCORE, right at the borderline of being in their top 10%. They recommend vehicles with a SCORE below 65, provided they are equipped with stability control and side curtain airbags, have no 3-star or lower results from the NHTSA and no â€œMarginalâ€ or lower results from the IIHS. So, the new Prius is really quite reasonable in terms of overall safety. For me, itâ€™s still a bit of a disappointment, as I would expect new cars to receive 5-star NHTSA results in most categories. On a thread at Priuschat.com forums, Toyota representatives have hinted that the new Prius was designed to do well in the updated NHTSA crash test rating system that will debut for 2011 model year vehicles. We shall see!

I am also very disappointed that safety features like Safety Connect (similar to OnStar) and the Advanced Technology Package (includes pre-collision system, lane keep assist and dynamic radar cruise control) are not options on all trim levels. I donâ€™t care much about any of the other features in upper trim models. The Homelink system would have been convenient to eliminate a garage door remote on the visor. Foglamps Iâ€™d consider as an accessory, if only because the blanks on the bumper look really bad. Big ticket items like a moonroof, JBL audio, DVD/Nav and Leather Iâ€™d rather skip. In fact, after buying a Honda Odyssey with a leather interior, Iâ€™m happy to go back to cloth. I find leather to be sweaty and it shows gouges, scrapes and wear marks a lot easier than our cloth interiors ever did. With carseats, itâ€™s even worse. On the other hand, I would have happily paid the premium for the great advanced safety features if I didnâ€™t have to pay for a bunch of stuff that didnâ€™t interest me at all. Shame on you, Toyota (but feel free to send me a Prius V with all the safety features for a long term test and review!).

Carseats? Well, two sets of LATCH, outboard only. Surely, Toyota could have put in one or two more anchors to allow LATCH in the center, as Honda and others have done on small and midsize vehicles. There is an extra top tether anchor for the center. The lower LATCH anchors are recessed more than average. They can be a bit tricky to find, so be sure you double check to make sure any LATCH attachments have engaged the anchors correctly. The three lap/shoulder belts in the back seat are all seat mounted and lack any type of height adjustment. Should be OK for most passengers, but might be problematic for very short or tall people as well as some kids in backless boosters. My daughter just turned 9 years old and is 4′ 5″ tall. She barely passes the 5-step test in the Prius rear seat (center or outboard) without a booster. Her legs are just long enough to bend at the edge of the seat, the shoulder belt is just off her neck and the lap belt is adequate, though it could be lower. If your child is much shorter, they may well require a booster. Head restraints are provided in all three positions; the center one is smaller than the outboard ones. All three can be removed if needed for a child seat installation.

The seatbelt stalks are short. Thatâ€™s usually good for carseat installations, but it could be tricky to install seats side-by-side. Thatâ€™s because the left and center positions share the same spot for the stalks, while the center lap belt crosses over with the right side seatbelt stalk and lower anchor. Overall, the rear seat is wider than many compact cars, but will still be cramped for 3-across carseats. Youâ€™d have to choose child seats carefully, but it can probably be done in various arrangements. The rear outboard seatbelts are not particularly long. They are just barely long enough to install models that require a reverse belt path, like the Britax Frontier. The seat cushions donâ€™t appear to be overly sculpted or angled, so hopefully most carseats should install well in them. Finally, thereâ€™s a vent in the seat back at about hip level, near the rear door on the passenger side. Itâ€™s there to allow air into the hybrid battery system and it probably should not be blocked completely. This shouldnâ€™t be a problem in general, as it is off to the side a bit and the armrest may prevent a large carseat from completely obstructing it.

Overall, Iâ€™d say the child friendliness of the rear seat is about average. Toyota didnâ€™t go out of their way to make it easy for parents, like they did in the Sienna, but itâ€™s still quite adequate. I do like the auto-reverse feature of the windows in case an arm or neck is in the way. I can fit a carseat seat like the Safeguard Go in the middle for my son and give the older kids plenty of room in the outboard seats. The better setup for us seems to be to have a single child seat behind the driver. That makes it easier for kids in boosters or seatbelts to buckle in the center and right outboard spots. Whichever way, itâ€™s cozy, but fine for around town. We have a minivan for very long drives with the whole family.
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bwilson4web · Sep 8, 2009

I am also very disappointed that safety features like Safety Connect (similar to OnStar) and the Advanced Technology Package (includes pre-collision system, lane keep assist and dynamic radar cruise control) are not options on all trim levels. . . .
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I quite agree!

Bob Wilson

Glider · Sep 8, 2009

CPSDarren said: ↑

I wrote this up for anyone looking for basic safety and carseat information....They (i.e., InformedForLife) give the 2010 Prius a risk SCORE of 64.9. That is a very good SCORE, right at the borderline of being in their top 10%.
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Thanks for the great writeup. BTW, I thought I remembered that 65 (I guess they meant 64.5 ;-) ) put you in the top 8% (averaged over several model-years; maybe 2003-2008 or something like that) - and if so, I guess the 2010 Prius is definitely in the top 10%. They show that the safety-% corresponding to a certain SCORE is rapidly increasing with each model-year. This is great and underscores that carmakers are responding with safer cars every year.

I hope the SCORE system catches on and becomes more recognized.

CPSDarren · Sep 8, 2009

Glider said: ↑

Thanks for the great writeup. BTW, I thought I remembered that 65 (I guess they meant 64.5 ;-) ) put you in the top 8% (averaged over several model-years; maybe 2003-2008 or something like that) - and if so, I guess the 2010 Prius is definitely in the top 10%.
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Yup, rounding caused the Prius to miss the recommended notation for vehicles with a rounded score of 64 or less. The increasing number of very safe vehicles kept it out of the top 10%, but still pretty good for a vehicle of its size.

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