Most Small SUVs Perform Well in New Pedestrian Test From IIHS

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has introduced a pedestrian crash prevention test into its rating system. Overall, the first batch of vehicles in the new test program performed well, with nine of the 11 small SUVs achieving “Superior” or “Advanced” ratings.

The 2018-2019 Honda CR-V, 2019 Subaru Forester, 2019 Toyota RAV4, and 2019 Volvo XC40 earned the highest rating of “Superior.” Five other SUVs ranked one step below at the “Advanced” level, including the 2019 Chevrolet Equinox, 2018-2019 Hyundai Kona, 2019 Kia Sportage, 2018-2019 Mazda CX-5, and 2019 Nissan Rogue. These nine vehicles were able to significantly reduce their speed when encountered with pedestrian dummies in every test scenario. They nearly avoided, and in some cases avoided, hitting the pedestrian dummies.

Pedestrian crash prevention technology can detect and automatically brake for pedestrians. IIHS scores vehicles in three different scenarios, the first being an adult pedestrian coming from the right side of the road into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The second involves a child darting into the street from behind two parked vehicles, while the third simulates an adult walking in the vehicle’s direction of travel near the edge of the road. Each vehicle receives a score based on their average speed reductions in five runs of each scenario. The first two scenarios are conducted at 12 mph and 25 mph, while the third test is conducted at 25 mph and 37 mph.

The Forester and RAV4 avoided hitting the dummies every time in the first two scenarios. In the third test, both SUVs earned additional credit for issuing a timely warning to the driver before automatically braking, which could help drivers respond earlier in a real-world situation.

Now onto the SUVs that didn’t perform so well. The 2019 Mitsubishi Outlander came away with a “Basic” score. In many tests, it managed only small speed reductions. Meanwhile, the 2018-2019 BMW X1 had either minimal or no speed reductions in all the tests. This performance resulted in IIHS giving no credit to the X1 for pedestrian crash prevention.

IIHS says that about two-thirds of front crash prevention systems have pedestrian detection capability. The agency did not evaluate animals or bicyclists, which many of these systems can also detect.

The pedestrian test is the fourth crash prevention evaluation in IIHS’ program. The agency also rates front crash prevention systems, headlights, and rear crash prevention systems.

Source: IIHS

The post Most Small SUVs Perform Well in New Pedestrian Test From IIHS appeared first on Motortrend.

from Motortrend https://ift.tt/2T0W6L1