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

Saw this earlier today and was let down. So far the Prius v has wildly exceeded my expectations and now this news put my feet back on the ground. Those videos are scary to watch. The dummy's head even misses the airbag and hits the dash! I wonder what speed is the car doing because it doesn't even look very fast! Makes me want to pray every time I go into my new car now.

The sad part is, my 2013 Prius v will never be "updated" to improve on that type of crash. All improvements will occur on future models.

 

Has similar testing been done on 2011 Prius?

 

40mph

 

Unless a car is a recent redesign, you can expect almost all cars to fail. It is very evident in the result.

So next gen Prius should pass it after it has done full redesign.

 

Neighbor kid had this type of crash in a Pontiac Fiero. Survived. But when we visited the car in the wrecking yard, it was scary to see that the left front wheel had dented the seat, driven right back and through the footwell.

 

Yet despite this, Prius and Camry are still "TOP SAFETY PICK" per
IIHS-HLDI: Toyota Camry
and
IIHS-HLDI: Toyota Prius v
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Per IIHS news release, they've also now added another category "TOP SAFETY PICK+".

 

I am of two minds here. Somehow we think that we can design cars to be absolutely safe. Its never going to happen. Humans are driving. This test seems to try to save people that are driving at 40+ mph into a tree or pole.
IIHS: Family cars safer than luxury cars in new crash test

i wonder how many of those 2500/year would die anyway even if all new cars go to the new standards. My guess is this test won't save many of them. The average vehicle age is over 10 years. We don't know if someone driving a new accord sedan (rated good) would have survived even if it passed the test. Still most manufacturers seem to be able to at least get marginal -

Unless you are planning to run high speed into an obstacle though I would not worry about driving a camry or prius v. The driver is the number one safety device. Many of us ride motorcycles and bicycle. 9000 people die each year falling in the bathroom. If your worried about this new stat you should really worry about the bathrooms in your house.

 

I finally watched the video at IIHS news release. This is a pretty brutal test. Just look at how badly damaged the '13 Accord that was ranked good was.

Mercedes, Lexus and Audi Fail Latest IIHS Crash Tests - KickingTires has a table about the aforementioned luxury cars.

 

Interesting. They made it sound as if these were the cars killing people. Then you look at the chart and most had no injuries except lower legs and feet. The two exceptions the A4 and Lexus ES injured hips and thighs, the ES sustaining both injuries on the crash test dummies.

New IIHS Crash Test to Prompt Modification, Hurt MPG | AutoGuide.com News

Honda Accord sedan is the only non-luxury car sold in the US to get a "good" on the test.

 

IIHS-HLDI
shows the almost dead Suzuki Kizashi getting "good" on that test. Problem is, American Suzuki filed for bankruptcy.

 

Sounds to me like this is a test which, in retrospect, should have been developed years ago.
It suggests to me that the further offset you get,the weirder looking in terms of odd directions the force gets.
It's time for the safety engineers to go to it again.

 

This is an almost unrealistic test but it still could be brutal for sales.

Strange how the V's side curtain airbag deployed late.

The Ford Fusion's frontal design seemed to slide off during impact making it a glancing blow. I would think this would be preferred for this test. However, the front left wheel seemed to detach more easily and so it didn't crush the cabin. Otherwise the Fusion would have been just as bad any other failed crash test. The Fusion also had a crappy small side curtain air bag.

 

This is all rubbish because Toyota has surged again in top automobile sells they have to find some way to notch them down again. Make no mistake accidents do happen but the severity of injuries suffered in a frontal crash test varies widely for each incident regardless of location to the front of the vehicle. This is another independent supposedly nonprofit organization with too much influence to control which auto companies have a potential to come out ahead in future sells.

 

The thing that bothers me the most, in the Toyota's, and the malibu (and 1 more, but I don't recall which, maybe Hyundai) was the steering column moved to the right as the vehicle was crumpling around the barrier.

On the Prius V, or the Camry, don't remember, but I'm leaning on the Camry, the door was nearly ripped open.... Sure makes me wonder, how accurate was the IIHS testing from earlier, though it wasn't quite this drastic of a hit from 20% of the front end.

 

I like Toyota's response to this, "This new test raises the bar again and we will rise to meet the challenge!"

Continuing to make safer cars can only be a good thing.

 

Modern cars are extremely safe for normal conditions. The main factor in accidents is human factors, including the decission to drive in bad weather. Roads to reduce acidents with these human factors, and driver training, including retesting drivers, are the only way to really reduce these fatalities.

Last year there were 32,367 fatalities according to NHTSA. IIHS seemed to go through the stats for many years and found that approximately 2500 of these were from small offset frontal crashes and devised a test. So far so good. Let's look at the stats and help car makers and consumers understand.

Then we get the articles, and Toyota and Lexus seem to do the worst of new cars tested, but when we drill down into the Lexus ES crash test data we don't really see fatal injuries on the crash test dummies. I assume the camry and prius v will give similar results. I think instead of the splashy headline, an analysis of which cars and what speeds are causing the deaths. That is kind of dull, and it wouldn't cause so much interest. It also begs the question, if all these cars do well, why are there 7500/year deaths according to IIHS from non small offset frontal crashes. The answer quite simply is the previous tests didn't save those 7500 people, nor do the 9 air bags etc. We can not expect that this new test is going to save the 2500.

We can continue to make our cars like tanks, but that won't really help solve the main causes of accidents, distracted and/or impared driving. It won't help the pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcylists hit by the cars.

We now know the camry and prius v should not be top safety picks, but they still are very safe cars.

 

This "failure" of the Prius v does not bother me much at all. You have to realize what the IIHS is doing. This is a "new" test. The engineers design the cars to pass the federal regulations first and foremost. The IIHS has a long history of coming up with "new" tests that are more severe than the federal safety tests. If the federal test calls for a collision at 35 mph, the IIHS will test at 40 mph. That "minor" change means 30% more energy needs to be dissapated. A big change, though most people don't realize that.

Yes, I want a safe car, but I don't want a battle tank that will protect me in every conceivable situation - there is the point of diminishing returns. Where that point is, I don't know. But I do know I am very happy with my Prius v.

 

Looking at this video, it seems like in some of these tests, the impact misses the left side rail/grumple zone, then shreds the fender, hits the tire and the rim goes for a direct hit of the passenger footwell/firewall.

For the Chevy Malibu, it was more like a swipe than an impact. The car completely passed by the barrier and probably caused less wheel to passenger footwell area damage.
Toyota's Camry, Prius V get worst ratings in new crash test - latimes.com
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