Which Small SUVs Failed the IIHS Rear-Seat Crash Test?Which Small SUVs Failed the IIHS Rear-Seat Crash Test?

The IIHS tested 15 popular small SUVs to measure injury to rear-seat occupants in moderate front overlap collisions.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

December 14, 2022

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The IIHS's latest test evaluates potential injuries on a rear-seat crash test dummy.Image courtesy of the IIHS

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is renowned for its ongoing series of ever-tougher crash tests of new cars when the organization rams a car into a barrier or another car and gauges the impact forces on a crash test dummy behind the wheel.

For the first time, IIHS is doing that same familiar moderate-overlap frontal impact test, but this time with the addition of a crash test dummy in the rear seat to see how that fares during the crash.

Because safety scores focus on injuries to the drivers’-seat dummy, it should come as no surprise that carmakers have optimized to succeed at that test. This is illustrated by the fact that all 15 small SUVs in the test scored a difficult-to-achieve “Good” rating for all of the front-seat scores in this test. The lone exception is an “Acceptable” score for driver’s seat leg & foot injuries for the Chevrolet Equinox.

But in the rear seat things went dramatically worse, with only two of these vehicles earning an overall “Good” score for rear-seat safety, followed by a single “Acceptable” score, two “Marginal” scores, and nine vehicles whose rear-seat safety is rated as “Poor.”

In all nine poor-rated vehicles, injury measurements indicated high risks of head, neck and chest injuries for the rear passenger, and the seat belt exerted excessive force on the chest of the second-row dummy. 

Related:How the IIHS Offset Crash Test Works

“The original moderate overlap test was our first evaluation and the lynchpin of the Institute’s crash testing program,” said IIHS President David Harkey. “Thanks to automakers’ improvements, drivers in most vehicles are nearly 50 percent less likely to be killed in a frontal crash today than they were 25 years ago. Our updated test is a challenge to manufacturers to bring those same benefits to the back seat.”

Click through our slide show to see which vehicles fared the best, and the worst, in this new test.

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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