The previous 5th generation Impreza and Crosstrek scored a poor rating in the institute’s updated side crash test so this is a welcome improvement.
The previous 5th generation Impreza and Crosstrek scored a poor rating in the institute’s updated side crash test so this is a welcome improvement.
I think on the contrary most cars and designed for the current tests, and not much more. Volvo is an exception to the rule, but that’s also because what differentiates Volvo is that singular focus on safety.
Case in point, almost all cars received Poor or Marginal scores when the small overlap test was introduced, and then a bunch more received Poor or Marginal scores when they started testing the passenger side. Same story for the updated side impact test, and the updated moderate overlap test.
I will try to be more specific with my phrasing, but my original reply agrees with your thoughts. Most cars are only designed to do well in current tests and only have a little extra headroom for updated tests. In the case of the updated side impact test, only the Mazda 3 retained a good rating, while the Civic, Sentra, and Corolla all dropped one level to Acceptable. In the case of new tests, such as when the IIHS first introduced the small overlap test, only a few vehicles that were designed for the scenario performed well.