Only two CUVs pass frontal crash test by the insurance industry

Only two CUVs pass frontal crash test by the insurance industry

The 2014 Subaru Forester is the first vehicle to ace every aspect of the difficult small overlap frontal crash test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The Forester won a rating of good and the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport won acceptable. The other 11 CUVs earned poor or marginal ratings.

IIHS added the test last year. It replicates what happens when the front corner of a vehicle strikes another vehicle or an object like a tree or utility pole. Most vehicles today are designed to do well in the governments full-width front crash test and in IIHS’s moderate overlap front test, but thats no guarantee they will do well in a small overlap crash.

Two-thirds of the CUVs tested had poor ratings for structure, and about half were poor or marginal for restraints and kinematics, meaning the crash dummy movements werent well controlled to prevent contact with hard surfaces.