Toronto, Ontario — Three months after a less than stellar performance in the IIHS’s moderate overlap front crash test, some automakers have made marginal improvements to the rear seat safety of their vehicles, while others continue to give the issue the back seat.
Up from two to four “Good” ratings this time around, some automakers, namely Ford, Subaru and Tesla, appear to be taking steps to improve upon their rear passenger safety features following a December 2022 trial of the updated moderate overlap front crash test, in which many small SUVs from leading OEMs performed poorly.
In the initial test of 15 small SUVs in 2022, only the Ford Escape and Volvo XC40 performed well enough to earn “Good” rankings from the IIHS. This time around, in a test of 13 midsize SUVs, the Ford Explorer, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Subaru Ascent and Tesla Model Y all earned “Good” ratings.
Additionally, the Chevrolet Traverse, Toyota Highlander and Volkswagen Atlas received “Marginal” ratings, while the Honda Pilot, Hyundai Palisade, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler 4-door, Mazda CX-9 and Nissan Murano were rated “Poor.”
This recently updated version of the moderate overlap test sees the placement of a smaller child-sized test dummy in the second row of the vehicle, behind the driver, to simulate the effects of a crash on a passenger about the size of a 12-year-old.
In order to receive a “Good” rating, the dummy must not exceed limits indicating an excessive risk of injury to the head, neck, chest, abdomen or thigh, according to the IIHS.
“Zeroing in on weaknesses in rear seat safety is an opportunity to make big gains in a short time, since solutions that are already proven to work in the front can successfully be adapted for the rear,” said senior research engineer at the IIHS, Marcy Edwards, who led the development of the updated test.
“The four good ratings in this round of testing show that some automakers are already doing it.”
Concerning the “Poor” rated vehicles, it was found that the Jeep Wrangler’s lack of a side curtain airbag in the rear creates “significant risk of head or neck injuries.” The seat belt of the rear dummy in the Wrangler test also slipped from its pelvis to its abdomen, which is called “submarining” and was counted against the automaker.
On the flip side, rear seat belt tension was found to be too high on the CX-9, Grand Cherokee, Palisade and Pilot; an issue which ultimately triggered high chest injury values on the Grand Cherokee’s rear dummy, according to the IIHS.
