One very important thing to consider when in the market for a new vehicle is its safety rating. Crash tests are done on most of the vehicles sold in America each year; these tests are what the safety ratings are based upon. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), is a nonprofit research organization that performs several types of crash tests on vehicles.
Each test was designed to grade the safety of vehicles when involved in several different types of accidents. These tests grade a vehicle on how safe it is during accidents in categories such as rollover, side crashes, frontal crashes, overlap frontal crashes, as well as in restraints and head safety during an accident. As a result of diligent research, the IIHS has proven that at least 25 vehicles on the 2017 market perform poorly in the overlap frontal crash test, as well as other tests.
An overlap front test determines how safe a vehicle is during a collision that involves a small portion of the front left of a vehicle. The results measure whether or not the airbag system will offer adequate protection when a vehicle makes contact with obstacles that only hit the front on the driver’s side. Quite often a frontal impact on the left side does not deploy airbag systems, which can lead to serious injury or possibly a fatality.
The damages incurred to some vehicles during the overlap test can involve the outer shell and structure of the vehicle intruding on the driver’s space. When objects can easily ram through the left side of a vehicle it leaves a driver vulnerable to injuries. Due to the fact that many automakers place their safety focus on the middle of a front end, the sides are far less likely to provide adequate protection during collision. In fact, if a vehicle does not get hit in the center of the front, airbag systems can fail to open.
Since there are numerous incidents of injury and death due to this type of collision, a poor score in the front overlap test means a vehicle is not as safe as it should be. The Bagen Law Firm believes that much more can be done by automakers to ensure that each of their vehicle models can withstand overlap collision and provide higher levels of safety to drivers. The results of the 2017 crash tests performed by IIHS leads us to believe that drivers of the 25 most dangerous cars need to be informed of the risks they take while driving.
Many of these dangerous cars and trucks are top-selling models, so the number of drivers at risk is rather high. Here is a list of the makes and models of vehicles that rated the poorest on small overlap front collision tests:
- Chevrolet: Aveo, Camaro, Silverado, HHS, Suburban, Spark, Impala
- Nissan: Versa, Titan (Pickup), Sentra, Maxima, Cube
- Ford: Mustang (Convertible), Focus, Fiesta
- Dodge: Ram 1500 (Pickup), Challenger, Avenger
- Hyundai: Accent, Genesis
- Kia: Soul, Rio
- Volkswagen: Golf
- Scion: tC
- Chrysler: 200
In addition to rating poorly in the small overlap front collision test, some of these vehicle models also scored low in other crash tests. When occupying one of these dangerous cars, a driver and their passengers face a much higher risk of injury and death. The Bagen Law Firm represents and protects the victims of auto collision so they can heal and move on. Being involved in an auto accident can be life altering, our goal is to help victims recover physically, emotionally, and financially.
