FILE - A Ford logo is seen on signage at Country Ford in Graham, N.C., on July 27, 2021. Most small SUVs flunked the latest frontal crash tests done by the insurance industry and released Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, but oddly enough, they're just as safe as they were before. That's because the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety updated the test so it places more emphasis on keeping back-seat passengers safe.
The remainder, the Buick Encore, Chevrolet Equinox, Honda CR-V and HR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Jeep Compass, Jeep Renegade, Mazda CX-5 and Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross got the bottom rating of “poor.” The institute has a history of changing its widely watched tests in an effort to get automakers to make safety improvements, and Harkey says they normally respond to the changes.
Some automakers already have put more sophisticated belts in their back seats, something that can be done without a big model update, Harkey said. “The industry has always been good about responding to tests that we have introduced,” he said. “We expect they will do so in this case, and we expect they will be able to do so quickly.”
In the original moderate overlap test, a vehicle travels at 40 mph toward an aluminum barrier. About 40% of the vehicle's width hits the barrier on the driver's side.