How automotive safety tests work.

The Toyota Camry and Toyota Rav4 performed very well in crash-test results released on Sunday. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Toyotas received "Good" ratings for both front and side collisions. Meanwhile, the side-airbag-equipped Dodge Caliber scored only "Marginal" marks for side-impact protection. How do these crash tests work?

They ram the cars into barriers, and vice-versa. Both the Insurance Institute and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration use front- and side-impact tests to rate new cars. For the front crash, the vehicles are propelled into fixed barriers that are designed to crumple the way the front of a real car might. For the side crash, the car stands still while a crushable barrier is propelled into its side.

Testers at the Insurance Institute buy two cars of a given model from dealer lots. They then drain the electrolyte from the batteries and replace the gasoline in the tanks and fuel lines with a testing solution that poses less risk of catching fire. At the end of a simulated crash, they can measure the risk of a fire in real-world conditions by checking how much of the fake gas spilled out of the car.


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00JT - 8/9/2006 12:34:52 AM

+1 Boost

I think the IIHS should raise the speed of which the vehicles are crashed from 40 mph to 50 mph.

Matthew1 - 8/9/2006 3:43:53 AM

+1 Boost

We all know the IIHS tests are much more lenient than euroNCAP. If you were to submit your 'good performing' American cars to euroNCAP, the big sedans would probably be less safe than a little Fiat Punto.

PlanoA4 - 8/9/2006 8:20:56 AM

+1 Boost

00JT- I agree but the problem become how heavy the car will have to be to pass. The forces go up by quite a bit, so the car has to be much stronger than many currently are.

Matthew- You are correct, that is why VW and Audi's (Actually any Euro car) typically breeze through the tests, and other car specifically made for this market have a harder time.

Rupert - 8/9/2006 7:56:59 PM

+1 Boost

on 5th gear, they crashed a renault espace (voyager sized mpv with 5 ncap stars) into a last genland rover discovery (untested). the discovery is heavier and has the steelchassis, where as the renault uses plastics and other more advaced materials.
the discovery was demolished.
the renault's doors could all be opened.
it was an offside test (driver to driver) and the discovery was caved in right up to the windscreen.
see this article

they hit at 80mph. quite fast.
apparently the drier of the espace could have walked away.
the discovery driver might not have any knees.