The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is updating its
vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention test to address crashes
that occur at higher speeds and those in which the struck vehicle
is a motorcycle or large truck. Only one of the first 10 small SUVs
evaluated earns a good rating.
“This is a vital update to one of our most successful test
programs,” IIHS President David Harkey said. “The vast majority of
new vehicles now come with automatic emergency braking, and our
research shows the technology prevents as many as half of all
front-to-rear crashes. This new, tougher evaluation targets some of
the most dangerous front-to-rear crashes that are still
happening.”
The Subaru Forester is the only small SUV to earn a good rating
in the updated test. Two others, the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4,
are rated acceptable. The Ford Escape, Hyundai Tucson and Jeep
Compass earn marginal ratings, while the Chevrolet Equinox, Mazda
CX-5, Mitsubishi Outlander and Volkswagen Taos are all rated
poor.
The original vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention
evaluation was developed when the technology was relatively new, so
the performance requirements only addressed low-speed crashes. By
the time the original evaluation, with test runs at 12 and 25 mph,
was discontinued at the end of 2022, all tested vehicles were
earning the top rating of superior.
While real-world data indicate that front crash prevention is
eliminating higher-speed crashes, the original test didn’t provide
a way to gauge the performance of specific systems at those higher
speeds.
Additional IIHS research also showed that today’s systems are
less effective at preventing crashes with motorcycles and medium or
heavy trucks than they are at preventing crashes with other
passenger vehicles.
A tougher
test
To address those issues, instead of the earlier 12 and 25 mph
speeds, the updated test includes trials run at 31, 37 and 43 mph
(50, 60 and 70 kilometers per hour). In addition to a passenger car
target, it examines performance with a motorcycle target and a
semitrailer. As a result, the new evaluation reflects a
substantially greater proportion of police-reported front-to-rear
crashes, including many that are more severe.
“Obviously, crashes that happen at higher speeds are more
dangerous,” said IIHS Senior Research Scientist David Kidd, who led
the development of the new evaluation. “Deadly underride crashes
often occur when the struck vehicle is a large truck, and
motorcyclists are frequently killed when they’re rear-ended by a
passenger car, since their bike offers no protection from the
impact.”
In the new evaluation, multiple trials are conducted with a
target representing a passenger car, a target representing a
motorcycle and an actual dry van trailer. Tests are run at all
three speeds with each vehicle type. The tests using surrogates are
conducted with the motorcycle or passenger car target positioned in
the center of the travel lane and offset to the left or right,
while the trailer is always positioned in the center of the
lane.
The trials using targets evaluate both the forward collision
warning and automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems. In each test
run, an engineer drives the test vehicle toward the target at the
selected speed and records when the forward collision warning
occurs and how much the AEB system slows the vehicle to prevent or
mitigate the impending impact. If the test vehicle fails to achieve
a minimum speed reduction at the slower test speeds, only the
forward collision warning system is evaluated in the higher-speed
tests.
In all the test runs using the trailer, only the forward
collision warning system is evaluated, and the driver steers out of
the lane to avoid a crash.
Evaluating
performance
Points are awarded for warnings that occur at least 2.1 seconds
before the projected time of impact and for substantial speed
reductions in the AEB tests. Speed reductions account for
two-thirds and warnings account for one-third of the maximum
possible score.
The good-rated Forester avoided a collision with the passenger
car target at every test speed, avoided hitting the motorcycle
target at 31 and 37 mph, and slowed by an average of 30 mph before
hitting the motorcycle target in the 43 mph tests. The forward
collision warning alerts also came more than the required 2.1
seconds before the projected time of impact in all those trials and
also in those conducted with the trailer.
The acceptable-rated CR-V provided a timely forward collision
warning alert and came to a stop or near stop in every trial with
the passenger car target and in the 31 and 37 mph trials with the
motorcycle target. However, it failed to slow consistently in the
43 mph trials with the motorcycle target.
Even vehicles with a marginal rating in the new test demonstrate
a higher level of performance than what was required for the
highest rating in the original vehicle-to-vehicle front crash
prevention evaluation.
For example, the Escape avoided hitting the passenger car and
motorcycle targets at the 31 mph test speed and slowed by a modest
amount in the higher speed tests, regardless of where the targets
were positioned. However, it lost several points because its
forward collision warning came too late in all of the 31 mph
tests.
The four poor-rated vehicles fell short in multiple test
scenarios.
For example, the Equinox provided a timely forward collision
warning in the tests with the trailer and passenger car target but
either failed to give a warning or gave it too late in most tests
with the motorcycle target. With the passenger car target, it
slowed modestly in the 31 mph tests, and with the motorcycle target
it barely reduced speed at all.
Updated front crash prevention ratings: Small
SUVs
2023-24 Subaru Forester: GOOD
2023-24 Honda CR-V: ACCEPTABLE
2023-24 Toyota RAV4: ACCEPTABLE
2023-24 Ford Escape: MARGINAL
2023-24 Hyundai Tucson: MARGINAL
2023-24 Jeep Compass: MARGINAL
2023-24 Chevrolet Equinox: POOR
2023-24 Mazda CX-5: POOR
2023-24 Mitsubishi Outlander: POOR
2023-24 Volkwagen Taos: POOR
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VNR:
Thur. 4/25/2024, 10:30-11 a.m. ET; repeat 1:30-2 p.m. ET
(KU) GALAXY 19 SD Transponder 10/slot 4 (dl11912H) bandwidth
6 MHz; symbol rate 3.9787 FEC ¾
HD Transponder 10/Ch AB (dl11900.0H) bandwidth 18 MHz; symbol
rate 13.235 FEC ¾
For more information, go to
iihs.org
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is an
independent, nonprofit scientific and educational organization
dedicated to reducing deaths, injuries and property damage from
motor vehicle crashes through research and evaluation and through
education of consumers, policymakers and safety professionals. IIHS
is wholly supported by auto insurers.
- The 2023 Chevrolet Equinox strikes a motorcycle target during a
31-mph front crash prevention test at the IIHS vehicle research
center in Ruckersville, Va.
Joe Young
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
504-641-0491
jyoung@iihs.org