Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced plans to change its vehicle safety rating program to include two sensor-based automatic emergency braking systems. While the agency didn’t go so far as to mandate automakers’ use of the systems, 10 manufacturers recently pledged to do so. [More]
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Hardware Designed To Make Child Car Seat Installation Easy Is Often Difficult To Use
By 6.19.15
When driving with the most precious of cargo — your child — you obviously want to ensure that youngster is as safe as possible, but what good are the newest child safety measures if they’re too complicated to use? [More]
Only 1 Out 12 Small Cars Gets “Good” Rating In New Crash Test Results
By 7.31.14
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (the place that crashes cars into walls for science) recently ran a dozen popular small cars, including the Chevy Volt, Ford C-Max Hybrid, Mini Cooper Countryman, and the Mazda 5, through its “small overlap” front crash test, where only the front corner of the vehicle is involved in a collision. While several of the tiny cars had okay results, only one earned an overall “good” rating from the IIHS. [More]
Report: 74 Deaths May Be Tied To GM Ignition Defect
By 6.3.14
While General Motors has admitted that an ignition switch defect in Chevy Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other vehicles has been tied to 13 deaths, others have indicated that the number could be significantly higher than that. A new report from Reuters claims to have found at least 74 fatalities that may be related to the defective switches. [More]
Consumer Reports Pulls Recommendation For Honda Fit After Poor Crash Test Results
By 1.22.14
Earlier today, we told you how all but one of the subcompact cars (aka mini cars) tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety received failing marks in the important small overlap crash test, and the Honda Fit earned the lowest scores of the entire group. As a result, our co-workers at Consumer Reports have decided they can no longer recommend this particular vehicle. [More]
Mini Cars Are Mega Failures In New Crash Test Results
By 1.22.14
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (better known as the people that get paid to smash cars into walls) recently put 11 mini cars — including well-known models like the Fiat 500, Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, and Toyota Prius C — through its newest form of crash-testing. The results were not good, with only one of the tested vehicles earning an overall “Acceptable” rating. [More]
Consumer Reports Pulls Recommendations For 3 Toyotas & An Audi Over Crash-Test Results
By 10.28.13
Our cohorts at Consumer Reports do an awful lot of testing on the cars they rate, but one thing they can’t do is crash-testing. That’s why, following the results of recent crash tests from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (better known as the people that crash cars into walls), CR has pulled its recommendations on three Toyota models and one Audi vehicle. [More]
Camry, Prius V, Several Luxury Cars Fail New Crash Tests
By 12.20.12
You all know the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety; they’re the folks that get paid to smash cars into walls. Now the IIHS has added a new level to its Top Safety Pick certification — Top Safety Pick+ — for vehicles that meet existing standards and perform well in new small frontal overlap tests. [More]
Luxury Cars Aren't Doing So Well In New Crash Tests But Hey, Check Out That Leather Interior!
By 8.14.12
There you are, rolling along in your nice luxury car with custom leather interior, awesome speakers and one of those voice-activated virtual assistants offering to find you a late-night taco joint and all is well with the world. Unless maybe, you get in an accident and discover that just because your car is fancy, it might not hold up so well in a crash. A new test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has resulted in some failing grades for luxury and near-luxury automakers. [More]
Car Thieves Still Love Jacking Escalades & Full-Sized Pickups
By 8.25.11
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (AKA the people who have all the fun smashing cars into walls without getting ticketed) has released its annual report on which vehicles are the most- and least-frequently boosted by car thieves. And once again the top 10 list is dominated by big pickups and that rolling cliche of new money, the Cadillac Escalade. [More]
IIHS Crash Test Video Library Provides Edification, Entertainment
By 7.22.11
Have you always wanted to visit a web site that combines all of the fun of a demolition derby with all of the usefulness of serious research for your next vehicle purchase? No, you probably haven’t, but it exists. It’s the Consumer Reports crash test video player, loaded up with about 300 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash-test videos for various makes and models of cars. [More]
By 2.11.09
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New Pick-Up Truck Crash Test Videos! “Full-sized pickup trucks are marketed as tough machines, though new tests from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) shows that crash-test protection varies widely. The latest IIHS test data reveal side-impact protection is Marginal or Poor for the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Dodge Ram 1500, GMC Sierra 1500, and Nissan Titan.” [Consumer Reports] [Videos]
Toyota Recalling 15,600 2007 Tundra Pickup Trucks
By 12.14.07
Toyota has announced that it is recalling 15,600 Tundra 2007 Tundra four-wheel-drive pickup trucks because “a rear propeller shaft may separate at the joint.”
Cars Are Getting Safer, 34 Vehicles Are "Top Safety Picks"
By 11.16.07
The institute’s tests are tougher than those run by the federal government, and automakers often make changes in the vehicles and pay the institute to re-run its tests to garner better scores for advertising. General Motors Corp. altered the side air bags in its 2008 Saturn Vue to earn a top pick after they failed to deploy correctly in the first test.
25 Safest Cars Of 2007
By 10.19.07
These are the 25 cars you’re least likely to die in, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Picks 2007. They do front and side crashes at high speeds. They see how much of a crick in the neck you get after being hit in the rear. One thing that stands out is that cars with optional electronic stability control are getting good grades.
