CAMRY AND ACCORD WITH SIDE AIRBAGS RATED GOOD, MALIBU ACCEPTABLE; 10 OTHER MIDSIZE CARS RATED POOR IN TESTS SIMULATING CRASH WITH SUV
ARLINGTON, VA -- The Toyota Camry and Honda Accord equipped with optional side airbags are the only inexpensive midsize cars to earn good ratings in side impact crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Chevrolet Malibu with optional side airbags is rated acceptable. Ten other midsize car designs earned the lowest rating of poor. The test simulates what happens when a pickup or SUV strikes a passenger vehicle in the side at 31 mph.
The Camry, Accord, and Malibu without side airbags are rated poor for side impact protection. Other car models that earned poor ratings are the Suzuki Verona, Mazda 6, Dodge Stratus/Chrysler Sebring, Nissan Altima, Saturn L Series, Hyundai Sonata/Kia Optima, and Mitsubishi Galant. The Institute's side impact test results are a relatively new addition to the frontal offset crash test ratings the Institute has been providing to consumers since 1995. This is the first set of Institute side impacts involving cars.
The Institute's side impact crash test represents what happens when a passenger vehicle is struck by a pickup truck or SUV.
"Manufacturers have made major improvements in the protection vehicles provide to occupants in frontal crashes," says Institute president Brian O'Neill. "Most new vehicles do well in the Institute's 40 mph frontal offset crash test. We believe this new test will drive similar improvements in protection for occupants in side crashes."
Side impacts are the second most common fatal crash type after frontal crashes. About 9,600 people were killed in side impacts in 2002, and in crashes between two passenger vehicles more driver deaths now occur in vehicles struck in the side than in the front. This contrasts with the past situation when there were many more deaths in frontal crashes.
"We simply haven't made the same progress in protecting people in side impacts as we have in frontal crashes," O'Neill points out.
Compared with federal test, Institute test produces higher risks for occupants of side-struck vehicles: In the Institute test, a moving deformable barrier strikes the driver side of a passenger vehicle at 31 mph. The barrier weighs 3,300 pounds and has a front end shaped to simulate the front end of a typical pickup or SUV. In each side-struck vehicle are two instrumented dummies the size of a short (5th percentile) female or a 12-year-old child, one positioned in the driver seat and one in the rear seat behind the driver. This is the first consumer test program to use a dummy that represents small women.
The federal government's side impact test uses a barrier representing a car's front end. In this test, there's no chance that the heads of the dummies in a struck vehicle will be hit by the intruding barrier. But in serious real-world side impacts, people's heads often are struck by intruding vehicles, especially if the striking vehicle is a pickup or SUV with a high hood. The Institute's barrier is taller than the government's to mimic the high hood heights of SUVs and pickups.
Top performers are Camry and Accord with side airbags: The Institute tested the Camry and Accord twice, with and without optional side airbags. (If a vehicle has side airbags as an option, the Institute's policy is to test the vehicle without the option. The manufacturer may request a second test with the optional airbags if it also reimburses the Institute for the cost of the vehicle.) In the tests of the Camry and Accord with side airbags, most injury measures for the front and rear passenger dummies were low. Both cars were equipped with side curtain airbags that deploy from the roof to protect people's heads plus torso airbags for the front-seat occupants.
"The Camry and Accord with side airbags are the only good performers in this group of midsize cars," O'Neill says. "The structure of the Camry did a reasonably good job of minimizing intrusion into the occupant compartment, and the curtain airbag prevented the dummies' heads from being hit by any hard structures, including the intruding barrier. The structure of the Accord didn't hold up quite as well as the Camry's, but injury measures were low and the Accord also earns the highest rating of good. Neither of these vehicles was quite good enough to earn a ‘best pick' for side impact protection."
In contrast, the performances of the Camry and Accord without side airbags were poor. The heads of the driver dummies were struck by the intruding barrier, resulting in high injury measures.
"In a real-world crash of similar severity without side airbags, there would be a high likelihood of serious head injuries and rib fractures," O'Neill says. "In contrast, occupants of the Camry and Accord with the optional airbags would be much more likely to survive a severe crash like this without serious injuries."
Malibu with side airbags is rated acceptable: The Malibu's performance wasn't as good as the Camry's or Accord's, so this car earned the Institute's second highest rating in the side impact test. "The optional curtain airbag did a good job of reducing the injury measures recorded on the dummies' heads, but the torso injury measures for the driver dummy were too high and there was too much intrusion," O'Neill points out.
Vehicle side structure should prevent intrusion: There were major differences in how the structure of the sides of the cars performed in the test.
"In frontal crashes, well-designed vehicles have front ends that crumple to absorb energy and strong occupant compartments that resist intrusion," O'Neill explains. "This allows restrained occupants to be decelerated without injury. In contrast, there is virtually no crush space on the sides of vehicles. So in serious side crashes some intrusion is inevitable, but it should be minimized."
The Mitsubishi Galant had the best structural performance in this group of cars the Institute tested. The sill along the bottom of the doors wasn't severely crushed by the barrier, and B-pillar intrusion was less than in the other cars in this group. Still, the Galant earned a poor overall rating, largely because it lacked a side airbag to protect the driver's head and torso protection was poor. In contrast, the Dodge Stratus had the poorest performing structure. The sill below the doors was severely crushed, and there was major intrusion of the B-pillar. This contributed to high injury measures for the dummies.
