Small cars receive good ratings in new crash test, IIHS says
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Side crashes account for about a quarter of car deaths in the U.S., according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
For the first time, the independent safety organization crash-tested small cars with a newer, heavier barrier in order to determine how safe some models are in collisions with today's bigger and faster vehicles.
Experts say the results surprised them.
Eleven small cars were put to the test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to see how well they could stand up to a side impact crash.
"We expected small cars to struggle in this test, but that simply was not the case," IIHS President David Harkey said.
Harkey says this is the first time the small cars were tested with its new larger, faster barrier.
"The vehicles are much heavier that are striking other vehicles and they're also occurring at higher speeds," Harkey said.
While all 11 of the same car models received good ratings using the old barrier, this time only seven cars received a good or acceptable rating, with the Mazda 3 topping the list.
The Kia Forte and Subaru models were rated poor.
Harkey says small cars performed better than some of the more popular SUV classes earlier this year, in the same test.
"I would not hesitate to purchase one of these one of these vehicles if they're willing to wait a couple of years to see how these vehicles are performing, they can do that as well and have an even safer vehicle," Harkey said.
IIHS scientists look at how well the structure of the vehicle stays in tact, the potential for injuries to the passengers, and how well the side airbags work when determining ratings for tested cars.
