2 POPULAR SUVS SHOW MAJOR RISKS TO OCCUPANTS IN CRASH TESTS, GET UNACCEPTABLE RATINGS

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By Miriam Raftery

June 12, 2018 (Arlington, Va.) — Two of the best-selling mid-size SUVs were found to have serious and life-threatening safety problems for passengers and drivers including head injuries in crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

In the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the passenger dummy’s head smashed into the dashboard through the front airbag; a side airbag failed to deploy and the door opened. The vehicle also had intrusion of 10 inches into the SUV at the lower door hinge pillar.

The 2018 Ford Explorer had intrusion up ot 15 inches on the passenger side, with the door sill pushed in six inches toward the dummy. Measurements showed a high likelihood of hip and leg injuries. The Explorer also had poor structural performance on the driver’s side.

A Honda Pilot tested also showed a possibility of head injury to the passenger, but still managed to get an acceptable rating. 

The best performing mid-size SUV was the 2018 Kia Sorrento, which got a good safety rating in every category and was the only model to earn the Institute’s highest award, the Top Safety Pick+.

See full details on all models in the chart below, and read more here.

Passenger-side small overlap front crash test ratings for midsize SUVs

 

     

Passenger injury measures

 

Overall

Structure

Passenger

restraints &

kinematics

Head

& neck

Chest

Hip &

thigh

Lower leg

& foot

2019 Kia Sorento

G

G

G

G

G

G

G

2018 Volkswagen Atlas

G

G

G

G

G

G

G

2018 GMC Acadia

G

G

A

G

G

G

G

2018 Toyota Highlander

A

M

G

G

G

G

G

2018 Nissan Pathfinder

A

M

G

G

G

G

G

2018 Honda Pilot

A

G

M

A

G

G

A

2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee

P

M

P

A

G

G

P

2018 Ford Explorer

P

P

A

G

G

P

A

 

GOOD

G

ACCEPTABLE

A

MARGINAL

M

POOR

P

 


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