Quite a few brands of luxury cars from the 2012 model year did poorly on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) new small overlap frontal crash test. Only three of 11 midsize luxury and near-luxury cars evaluated earned good or acceptable ratings, the organization said.
The new frontal crash test joins a group of other tests designed to help consumers pick the safest vehicles.
“Nearly every new car performs well in other frontal crash tests conducted by the Institute and the federal government, but we still see more than 10,000 deaths in frontal crashes each year,” IIHS President Adrian Lund said in a press release.
“Small overlap crashes are a major source of these fatalities. This new test program is based on years of analyzing real-world frontal crashes and then replicating them in our crash test facility to determine how people are being seriously injured and how cars can be designed to protect them better.”
Here’s how each of the 11 cars tested fared in the ratings.
Good or Acceptable
Marginal
Poor
- Mercedes C-Class
- Toyota‘s (NYSE:TM) Lexus IS 250 and Lexus ES
- Volkswagen’s Audi A4
The IIHS said that the cars with poor and marginal ratings would not offer drivers or passengers suitable protection in the event of an actual crash.
The complete report can be read at IIHS.org.
