Crash tests are not real world tests. They are geared toward the automobile industry. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a private organization funded by auto insurers, determines how a vehicle will withstand a crash in respect to how it will protect the passengers of the vehicle.
Sounds like a noble organization who keeps the buying public’s best interest at heart, doesn’t it? But are we really being given the whole truth?
I’m not saying that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety fudges test results for the benefit of auto makers. Insurance companies use the results of these tests in determining how to insure these vehicles.
My biggest problem with these tests is they are not ‘real world’ enough to be of any real use to the average everyday driver.
Front end tests crashes are not full frontal, they are ‘offset impacts’, meaning the vehicle strikes a barrier with just one side of its front end. What is the result of a full frontal crash? Why not tell us those results? The test is performed at 40 mph. Why not 55 mph or the more realistic 65-75 mph (and higher) that people actually drive regardless of the posted speed limit of 55 or 65?
Side crashes are done at a slower speed of 31 mph. Why not 35-45 mph which is more realistic? Because, again, people travel at these speeds despite the posted 25-40 mph speed limit.
Rear end tests are performed at an even more ridiculously lower speed of 20 mph. Why not the 35-45 mph which is more realistic? Because, again, people travel at these speeds despite the posted 25-40 mph speed limit.
How about the results of a full front end into the rear of another vehicle at 40-55 mph? How would either vehicle fair from that crash?
The reason they don’t perform these test at ‘real world’ speeds under ‘real world’ conditions is because that would do far more damage to the vehicle than the public wants to see and would cut into vehicle sales.
Another problem I have with these tests is how the auto makers spin the results to sell their vehicles.
The auto industry gets to choose whichever result favors their vehicle and that is the result the public sees.
Chrysler said the government gave them 5-star ratings across the board even after the institute gave them less than five. A clear case of Chrysler lying to sell its product.
Who do we trust? The car makers only want to sell their vehicles so they don’t want the public to see all of the results. The only reason vehicles have airbags and other safety features is because auto makers are forced to build their vehicles this way by the government.
The auto industry takes these figures and spins them to their benefit and the consumer is not being informed as to the true results. The auto industry figures it is not their responsibility to inform the public of anything except how sleek their new vehicle looks, or how much fun you can have if you drive their vehicle, or how fast it will go (Why does it have to go fast??). Safety rarely gets mentioned unless it is to brag how their vehicle stood up against a competitor in a front end crash. They don’t tell you that that same vehicle failed miserably in side and rear crash tests or that the front end test was a low speed test and was not a full head-on crash.
After the test results are filtered through the automakers advertisers embellishing process, how accurate and helpful is this information?
If these test results were advertised as well as the automakers advertise their vehicles, we would be a much better informed public. Better informed as to which vehicle is truly safer and which automaker resorts to using half-truths to sell their product.
In light of this, Are we really being protected?
Presumably, these tests are to inform the consumer, but just who are these tests truly performed for?
These little white lies and concealed truths erode the integrity of sellers and destroys the trust consumers should feel when trying to decide who to give their hard earned dollars to when trying to determine which vehicle is the safest for their family. This commonly known truism is once again pushed aside in the pursuit of profit.
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