New IIHS Side-Impact Crash Test Shows Troubling Sedan, Wagon Results

• The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) continues to roll out its new side-impact crash testing, releasing video and other information this week about seven sedans and wagons that IIHS recently tested.

• The short version: It may be time to rethink how smaller vehicles are built in an era of extra-large trucks and SUVs with their higher ride heights.

• Only the 2022 Subaru Outback (pictured above) was given the top score of Good, while the Chevrolet Malibu, Nissan Altima, and Toyota Camry were all rated Poor in the new test. Subaru's four-door sedan, the Legacy, was not included in this batch of testing.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has again revised its side-impact test, and the latest batch of seven sedans and wagons that IIHS tested did not fare well. Only the Subaru Outback managed to score the top Good rating, while the Volkswagen Jetta and Hyundai Sonata (pictured below) got Acceptable ratings. The other four vehicles tested were the Honda Accord, which got a Marginal rating, and three that ended up with a Poor rating: the Chevrolet Malibu, Nissan Altima, and Toyota Camry. All vehicles tested were from the 2022 model year.

IIHS announced in November 2019 that it would change its side-impact test to better reflect real-world crashes where a tall SUV or a pickup truck hits a smaller vehicle. IIHS said that the side-impact test it was using had been in place since 2003, and automakers had designed their vehicles to pass it. This meant that customers could not distinguish which vehicles performed better in a crash. IIHS believes its updated test will force similar changes on the auto industry in the future.

"We expect automakers to respond to our updated side test, providing increased protection for occupants and producing safer vehicles for consumers," IIHS president David Harkey said in a video about the new test results.