"Minimizes" pedestrian injuries? Says who? I think the front looks like an angry cat! And sometimes the car sounds like one, too!
The Australian New Car Assessment Program. See page 2 of this report http://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.ancap.com.au/app/public/assets/11f6f99d4506e4211206a6a9ee41e697f1422a3f/original.pdf?1476854920 Most other cars are much worse when they hit a pedestrian.
Although not the best, the look is infinitely better than that big black grille Toyota has insisted on putting on almost all its cars. I think if Gen 4 had that I would have chosen a different vehicle.
One of my favorite quotes from C&D: From: Toyota Prius Prime Reviews - Toyota Prius Prime Price, Photos, and Specs - Car and Driver "Against expectations, Toyota has made a decent business out of the Prius, a car whose picture should appear in the dictionary next to the word “frump.” Assuming the market doesn’t collapse by the end of the year, Toyota will sell well over 100,000 vehicles wearing the nameplate in 2016, a figure that is split among three models: the entry-level Prius C; the wagonoid Prius V; and the wavy-whacky new Prius, redesigned just last year by people obviously on psychotropic drugs."
I guess this are similar drugs used for their current front-end designs. I think Lexus takes a double dose, based on some of their vehicle front end designs. FWIW, when I started looking at the Corolla again, my wife could not believe the ugly from =nt end design. She did not comment on the Prius front end, though. My son who has a new Civic commented that people think his car looks angry but the Prius looks really angry!
Honda's Civic now sporting intake and exit "ports", on the "bumpers". The ports have sculpted peripherals, designed to channel air into blank plastic pieces. Lexus: rolling glass jaws. The pokemon Prius, complete with bidet. And new Prime, looking like a grouchy manta ray. It is the best of times.