Yahoo Autos IIHS Crash Tests of New Minivans Finds Front Passengers at Risk
Minivan buyers may be most concerned with protecting their little ones in the second- and third-row seats, but a new round of crash tests suggests they should worry for the adult sitting shotgun.
In the latest crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the 2018 Toyota Sienna minivan exposed it front passenger to greater risk of injury than did its primary competitors, the Honda Odyssey and Chrysler Pacifica. (The Kia Sedona and Dodge Grand Caravan have not yet been tested on the passenger side.)
During the group’s front small-overlap test on the passenger side (in which a quarter of the vehicle’s frontal area hits a five-foot high barrier at 40 mph), the Sienna’s structure “collapsed” and “crumpled around the test dummy’s legs,” according to the report. Hip and leg injuries would be likely, due to the Sienna’s body intruding 20 inches into the passenger compartment’s lower area and the dashboard moving back 16 inches, pushing against the dummy’s knees, the report said.
While this potential injury was still deemed “acceptable,” the IIHS scored the Sienna’s body structure its worst “poor” rating and only “marginal” for all passenger-side crash tests. The Sienna scored an “acceptable” rating for the small-overlap test on the driver’s side. It did score the top “good” rating for the driver’s-side moderate-overlap (which increases the crash area from 25 to 40 percent of the frontal area), as well as the side-impact (including the second row on the driver’s side), roof, and seat tests.
The small-overlap test for the passenger side is new as of last year. It is identical to the driver’s-side test implemented in 2012. The test simulates hitting a tree, pole, or other stationary object at the corner of the vehicle. The IIHS said it added this test after discovering many automakers had left the passenger side of their vehicles considerably weaker than the driver side.
While the Pacifica earned only a “marginal” rating for structural integrity on the passenger side, it still offered a lower risk of injury to the front passenger than did the Sienna, and earned the top “good” rating in all four measurement areas. Overall, the Pacifica’s passenger-side rating was deemed “acceptable” and its driver’s-side rating “good.”
The top performer, measured by how well its front structure protected the passenger’s legs and torso, was the Honda Odyssey, which scored the top “good” rating in all categories except for its “acceptable” body structure. Both the Pacifica and Odyssey earned a Top Safety Pick overall rating, which does not yet factor in this new passenger test. However, to earn a “Top Safety Pick+” rating means a vehicle’s front passenger side must rate an “acceptable” or “good” rating and headlights that rate “good.” Since the Pacifica and Odyssey have headlights rated as “acceptable,” they do not qualify for the best award. (For those wondering how easy it is to install child seats in these minivans, the IIHS rates them in separate tests.)
The minivan results mirror those of some small crossovers and dozens of cars and SUVs that failed to meet the best passenger-side ratings. The IIHS awarded only 15 vehicles with its Top Safety Pick+ rating for 2018, compared with 38 for 2017 and 48 for 2016.
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