VEHICLES THAT EARN GOOD TEST RATINGS FOR SIDE-IMPACT PROTECTION GREATLY REDUCE RISK FOR DRIVERS

Drivers of vehicles that perform well in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s side-impact crash test are much less likely to die in a real-world left-side crash than drivers of vehicles that do poorly, a new
analysis finds. The study includes only passenger vehicles with side airbags, demonstrating that airbags, while crucial, are far from the whole story in side crash protection.

After controlling for driver age and gender and vehicle type and weight, a driver of a vehicle rated good for driver protection in a side impact is 70 percent less likely to die in a left-side crash compared with a driver of a vehicle rated poor. A driver of a vehicle rated acceptable is 64 percent less likely to die, and a driver of a vehicle rated marginal is 49 percent less likely to die.“This was our first look at how our ratings correlate with actual crash data since we started side tests in 2003, and the numbers confirm that these are meaningful ratings,” says Institute chief research officer David Zuby. “Vehicles with good side ratings provide occupants with far more protection than vehicles that do poorly in our test.”

Side-impact crashes accounted for 27 percent of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in the United States in 2009. Such crashes can be particularly deadly because the sides of vehicles have relatively little space to
absorb energy and shield occupants. The ultimate goal of the Institute’s testing program is to encourage automakers to produce safer vehicles. Knowing that consumers consult the ratings before buying, manufacturers design cars and trucks with the Institute’s tests in mind. As a result, 78 percent of current vehicle designs that have been tested have good side ratings, compared with only about a third of vehicles tested in the program’s first two years.