Why Crash-Test Ratings Matter When Buying a New Car
On Friday, September 25, 2015, Jacob Ross crashed a stolen luxury car during a high-speed chase through Sherman Oaks, California. Even by SoCal police chase standards, Ross was driving like a total asshole, as though he wanted to die and didn’t care whom he took along for the ride. Worse, a woman named Destiny Dispaquale was riding in the back seat of the stolen car, as well as a 5-year-old child.
Fast-forward the video to 1:04 and you’ll get slow-motion footage of the collision that brought the chase to a stop. Nobody was killed in the wreck involving five other vehicles at an intersection. Miraculously, Ross, Dispaquale, and the child emerged from the crumpled and smoking stolen car, reportedly a Lexus LS, essentially unharmed.
A woman was transported to the hospital after rescuers pried her out of her vehicle. Based on her license plate number, she was driving a 2014 Ford Escape Titanium, the loaded model with leather seats, a panoramic glass sunroof, and nice looking aluminum wheels. She was just sitting there at the intersection of Sepulveda and Magnolia, waiting to make a left turn, when, in an instant, her September night went from routine to unforgettable.
The video shows the stolen car approaching the intersection at a ridiculous rate of speed, about to blow through the red light. A red Ford Mustang turning left from Magnolia onto Sepulveda enters the intersection from the right. Ross sees the Mustang, drifts left to try to avoid it, and is unsuccessful.
Glancing off the front of the Mustang, the stolen Lexus is pushed further toward to the middle of the road and into a row of oncoming cars waiting in their left turn lane, where it violently collides with the Ford Escape.
This impact between the Lexus and the Escape is a classic small overlap frontal-impact collision, as defined by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The IIHS began testing vehicles for small overlap frontal-impact protection in 2012, and the test is designed to replicate what might happen if a vehicle were to strike a tree, a telephone pole, or oncoming vehicles on the left front corner of the tested vehicle.
Small overlap frontal crashes primarily affect a vehicle’s outer edges, which aren’t well protected by (a vehicle’s) crush-zone structures. — IIHS
As can be seen in the video, the front left corner of the Escape takes 100 percent of the crash force, the impact actually lifting the compact crossover SUV’s right rear wheel as the Ford is violently shoved to the right.
In IIHS crash testing, the Ford Escape earns a “Poor” rating for small overlap frontal-impact protection, and it has since it was last redesigned for the 2013 model year. One of the most popular vehicles in its segment, along with the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4, the Escape is not as safe as other compact crossover SUVs that perform well in this difficult crash-test assessment.
Fortunately, according to reports, the woman driving the Escape was released from the hospital with minor injuries. Also, fortunately for the people in the second-generation Honda Fit that was waiting in the left turn lane behind her, the Escape took the hit rather than the Honda, which also earned a “Poor” small overlap rating when it was new. (The redesigned 2015 Fit gets a “Good” rating, but that only applies when hit by a vehicle of similar weight. The stolen Lexus still would have creamed a new Fit, too, because it is so light.)
Life is random, and you never know what’s going to happen when you get behind the steering wheel, start the engine, and head off down the road. That’s why, when I review and recommend vehicles, I am a strong advocate for choosing a vehicle that earns top crash-test ratings from both the IIHS and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
You want a car that performs well in both sets of testing because they are conducted to different standards. Additionally, you want something heavier rather than lighter, because heavier vehicles protect better in collisions with heavy vehicles. You want something that sits lower to the ground than higher, for a lower center of gravity and reduced rollover risk. You want something that offers added safety technologies, like driver assistance and crash avoidance systems. And it doesn’t matter if you’re buying a new car or a used car: get the safest one you can afford.
Finding crash-test ratings is easy. Results from testing performed by the NHTSA are available on safercar.gov, while IIHS test results are published on IIHS.org. It won’t take long to research the vehicles that have made your short list, and if one or the other of these organizations has not completed testing for the object of your affection, my recommendation is to move forward only if the IIHS has released full results because its standards are higher than NHTSA’s.
Christian Wardlaw has 20 years of experience as an automotive journalist. Today, you can find his work on AutoWeb, Car Gurus, J.D. Power Cars, New York Daily News, and Overstock Cars.
Photo copyright Ford Motor Company; for editorial use only
