NBC Nightly News reports on “new safety concerns being raised about some of the most popular SUVs on the road after the latest vehicle crash tests from the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety (IIHS).” The crash tests involving eight midsize SUVs looked at “how well the passenger side holds up when the front corner hits a car, a tree or a pole at 40 miles per hour.” Two of the SUVs, the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the 2018 Ford Explorer, earned a “poor” score.
CBS News reports that only three of the SUVs – 2019 Kia Sorento, 2018 Volkswagen Atlas and 2018 GMC Acadia – earned a “good” score. The 2018 Toyota Highlander, 2018 Nissan Pathfinder and 2018 Honda Pilot earned an “acceptable” score. The 2018 Ford Explorer earned a “poor” score because “its structure collapsed…resulting in a high likelihood of injuries to the front passenger’s right hip and left lower leg” In response to the test, Ford “insisted the Explorer is safe” and said, “We continually make improvements to our vehicles to help our customers stay safe on the road.” The 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee received a “poor” score because its performance in the crash test indicated “possible head injuries” to the passenger. Fiat-Chrysler, regarding the score of its Jeep Grand Cherokee said all of its vehicles “meet or exceed federal safety standards” and “are engineered to address real-world driving situations. No single test measures overall vehicle safety.”
The Detroit Free Press reports IIHS Chief Research Officer David Zuby as saying, “Although some vehicles in this group offer very good protection, in other models the airbags, safety belts and structure showed serious deficiencies” and that “In those SUVs, a front-seat passenger would be at risk of injuries to the head, hip or leg in a right-side small overlap front crash.”
The story was similarly reported by the Detroit Free Press, Detroit (MI) News, and Fortune.
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
