Rear passenger protection lags in midsize SUVs

Описание: Most midsize SUVs offer inadequate front crash protection for passengers seated in the rear, the latest crash test ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show.

“All these vehicles provide excellent protection for the driver,” said IIHS President David Harkey, “but only a handful extend that level of
safety to the back seat.”

IIHS recently updated its longstanding moderate overlap front crash test to add a rear passenger dummy positioned behind the driver.

Although the test still includes a driver dummy, rear passenger protection is the main thing currently differentiating vehicles in this test. Of 13 midsize SUVs tested, only four — the Ford Explorer, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Subaru Ascent and Tesla Model Y — earn good
ratings.

Three others, the Chevrolet Traverse, Toyota Highlander and Volkswagen Atlas, earn marginal ratings. Six more, the Honda Pilot, Hyundai Palisade, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler 4-door, Mazda CX-9 and Nissan Murano, are rated poor.

IIHS launched the updated moderate overlap front test last year in response to research showing that the front-seat safety gains that were driven by the original evaluation have not been matched in the rear. In vehicles from model year 2007 onward, the risk of a fatal
injury is 46 percent higher for belted occupants in the rear seat than in the front. This isn’t because the rear seat has become less safe, but because restraint technologies have only improved in the front seat.

The new test incorporates a Hybrid III dummy representing a small woman or 12-year-old child positioned in the second row behind the driver and uses specific metrics that focus on the injuries most frequently seen in rear-seat occupants.