IIHS: ‘Good' front crash test rating aligns with lower fatality risk in real-world crashes

WASHINGTON — Vehicles that perform well in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's driver-side small-overlap front crash test were shown to reduce a driver's risk of dying in a real-world crash, according to a study released Thursday.

The IIHS study found that a driver in a "good"-rated vehicle was 12 percent less likely than a driver in a "poor"-rated vehicle to be killed in a frontal crash.

Vehicles with an "acceptable" rating were associated with an 11 percent lower risk of fatality, while a "marginal" rating was associated with a 5 percent lower risk, compared with vehicles that received a "poor" rating.

IIHS said its researchers used frontal crash data from 2012 to 2020 and cross-referenced it with its driver-side small-overlap front crash ratings. They then calculated the number of driver deaths per total police-reported frontal crash involvements for each of its crash test ratings and adjusted the results by vehicle type, curb weight and driver demographics, the institute said.

"The numbers confirm that strong performance in the institute's small overlap front crash test translates into big reductions in fatality risk," said Eric Teoh, IIHS' director of statistical services and one of the study's authors.

The institute added the small-overlap front crash test to its crashworthiness evaluations in 2012. One IIHS study at the time indicated that small-overlap front crashes — in which just 25 percent of the width of the vehicle collides with a barrier — accounted for about a quarter of the frontal crashes that killed or seriously injured drivers of vehicles that earned a "good" rating in the institute's moderate-overlap crash test. The moderate-overlap test involves 40 percent of the width of the vehicle colliding with a barrier.

In the driver-side small-overlap front crash test, a vehicle travels at 40 mph toward a rigid barrier. A dummy representing an average-size man is placed in the driver's seat.

IIHS' test ratings are based on the amount of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury-predicting measurements collected from the dummy and its engineers' evaluation of how well the restraints controlled the dummy's movement during the crash.

The institute said nearly all vehicles tested today earn a "good" rating in both driver- and passenger-side versions of the test.