Last month, the Euro NCAP auto safety governing body announced that vehicles will be required to come equipped with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) technology by 2014 in order to be eligible to earn full, five-star Euro NCAP safety ratings.
Also quick to adopt the latest in auto safety innovations, now the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) has introduced an all new crash testing methodology to further challenge automakers into making safer vehicles.
The new test is designed to simulate the effects of "glancing blow" impacts into solid objects, such as trees and poles, at 40 miles an hour. According to the IIHS, these small-overlap collisions are more deadly than collisions that are dead-on as staggered impacts might fail to hit the vehicle's energy-absorbing crumple-zone structures completely.
The IIHS has already subjected a number of premium luxury sedans to the small-overlap impact test. Selected because these sedans have already received received respectable head-on collision ratings, the IIHS was surprised to discover the poor marks in the new test. Of the lot, the 2012 Acura TSX, 2012 BMW 3-Series, 2012 Lincoln MKZ, and 2012 Volkswagen CC all scored "marginal," while the 2012 Audi A4, 2012 Lexus IS, and 2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class scored "poor." The Infiniti G sedan was deemed "acceptable," while only the Acura TL and Volvo S60 had earned the "good" rating.
In a statement, IIHS President Adrian Lund said, "These are severe crashes, and our new test reflects that. Most automakers design their vehicles to ace our moderate overlap frontal test and NHTSA's full-width frontal test, but the problem of small overlap crashes hasn't been addressed. We hope our new rating program will change that."
It's surprising to realize that all it takes is a new crash test in order to reveal critical flaws that lie within automakers that possess established reputations in safety.
Watch the video below to learn more about the new crash test from IIHS:
