Luxury Cars Fare Poorly in New Safety Test

Some luxury vehicles showed weaknesses in their designs when subjected to new crash testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The testing involves what's called a small overlap crash. This is a head on collision that involves only 25% or less of the vehicles front end. The test was conducted at 40 miles per hour and struck 25% of the front-end in the vehicles named.

Three cars did do well.

The Volvo S60 and Infiniti G and the Acura TL all fared better in the tests than did their luxury brethren. These vehicles got "good" or "acceptable" ratings, according to the reporting. The Lincoln MKZ, Volkswagen CC, BMW 3 Series and the Acura TSX all got "marginal" scored. The Lexus IS 250, Audi A4, Lexus ES 350 and Mercedes C-Class all received "poor" scores, according to the reporting.
Mercedes had disputes with how the tests were conducted. Toyota accepted the results, said the Insurance Institute had raised the bar for safety and that they would take on the challenge in their new designs, according to the reporting.
All of the vehicles tested were 2012 models. The Institute will now move on to testing cars other than luxury vehicles, so the drivers of the more common types of vehicles on the market should be getting results for their cars in time.
The Insurance Institute is also noted in the article as intending to add this test to the criteria for to safety ratings.

Front end crashes and vehicles.

Depending upon what type of vehicle you have, it may be able to handle front end crashes well or it may present some hazards. As the statement from Toyota about the small overlap tests reveals, car companies use these types of tests as ways to ascertain how they can improve their designs. Over the years, there have been many improvements in testing cars for safety and many improvements integrated into vehicle designs. For car owners, this is good and bad.
If you have a vehicle that's more than a decade old, you might be driving something that is bereft of some of the best new safety invention. Classic cars have their appeal, but they have their dangers, as well!
Head-on collisions kill approximately 10,000 people every year. Many more are injured. Talk to a car wreck lawyer if you have been hurt in this type of collision, or in any other, due to the actions of a negligent driver.