IIHS - low recovery results of crash tests for midsize family car companies
Very small cars Fail New IIHS Small Overlap Frontal Crash-Test.
2013 Chevrolet Spark small overlap IIHS frontal crash test.
People like to joke that the old American cars should be very safe because of the huge amount of metal surrounding the driver, but s simplistic.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety IIHS has a group of 2013 and 2014 and minibuses subcompacts with its new and more rigorous small overlap frontal crash test, and the results are not very good.
Honda Fit 2013 - IIHS crash test before small overlap.
Only one of the 11 cars tested was rated acceptable It was the Chevrolet Spark, which, thanks to its good grades on tests four IIHS crash, was named 2014 Top Safety Pick.
Among the 10 other cars, only four - 2014 Ford Fiesta, Kia Rio, Mazda 2 and Toyota Yaris - even received a note marginal.
Les six cars rated poor were the Fiat 500, 2013 Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, Mitsubishi Mirage sedan Nissan Versa and Toyota Prius C.
This makes minicars worst nominal rating group since the IIHS instituted the small overlap test in 2012.
In the test - which is for reproducing a collision with the corner of another vehicle or an object such as an electric pole or shaft - a rigid barrier affects 25 percent end before a car on the driver's side 40 mph.
Since very few of the front of the car is in the path of the object, the more force is transferred to other parts of the structure.
Honda Fit 2013 - IIHS crash test before small overlap.
If a vehicle is not designed with this kind of protection against collisions with the spirit, loss of structural integrity can occur - jeopardizing the space around the driver, and potentially negate the protective effects of seat belts and airbags .
In the case of the Honda Fit --one underperforming - the wheel was ripped away from the crash test dummy, causing his head to extract the airbag and dashboard parts of the structure were also forced into the floor, which could cause damage in a real world crash.
The Fit that was tested is about to be replaced by a new 2015 Honda Fit No crash test results were issued for this car yet.
The IIHS began conducting crash tests small overlap in response to real-world data showing showing higher injury rate for these types of collisions.
The security structures of modern cars are designed to operate in specific and known types of crash tests, so the introduction of a new type of test may have exposed weaknesses where cars are not designed.
Yet the small overlap frontal crash test is now applied to all types of cars - but not received a collective note as low as for small cars.
IIHS notes that small slightly larger cars - in the compact class - are much better behaved than 17 cars tested, five received good marks and five received acceptable scores.
The institute said that the smaller, lighter cars have an intrinsically safe disadvantage compared to large vehicles.
Progressing to more hybrid model can provide good fuel economy and provide a significant boost to security, senior vice president for research IIHS Joe Nolan said vehicles.
More and more automakers design their minibuses for small overlap frontal crash test, their safety record can be improved.
For now, though - regarding this type of accident - bigger seems to be better.
Very small cars Fail New IIHS Frontal Crash Test SmallOverlap, very, small cars, fail.