Large SUVs struggle in IIHS tests - IIHS News

IIHS news release • June 6, 2024

Jeep Wagoneer excels as other large SUVs falter in IIHS tests

For drivers of large SUVs, their imposing size comes with a sense of security. But some models are safer than others, new ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show.

The Jeep Wagoneer is the only model out of three popular large SUVs tested to qualify for a 2024 TOP SAFETY PICK award. Other bestsellers, the Chevrolet Tahoe and Ford Expedition, fell
short for multiple reasons, including subpar performance in the small overlap front crash test. More than 90% of new models have sailed through this evaluation with good ratings since 2021.

These vehicles are designed to be people haulers, as well as to tow boats and campers. But none of them offers good protection for back seat passengers — a shortcoming that prevents the Wagoneer from earning the higher-tier TOP SAFETY PICK+ award.

“These discouraging results show that some popular vehicles still lag behind in meeting the most advanced safety standards,” said Raul Arbelaez, vice president of the Institute’s Vehicle Research Center. “The good news is that the top performer in this class proves that automakers can readily address these problems.”

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[sai_]

Flunking the small overlap in 2023 is crazy

[vincentwendt]

I can't believe there are still vehicles failing a crash test that's over 10 years old.

[APopov]

What scares me most is the very beginning: "We haven't tested this class of vehicles previously". The most popular segment of American vehicles was not tested for safety.

[dimosk]

so, people buy these huge SUVs thinking they will be safer, ignoring the other users and pedestrians, and they end up being potentialy less safe than they would in a smaller SUV, and in the same time they are still a hazard for other users and especially pedestrians...great success

[sarcasticundertones]

The headlights that blind me the most are from large GM vehicles. They scatter bright white light everywhere and are incredibly dangerous to other drivers.

[duramaxadventures]

These tests happen at like 25 mph. Imagine a 60mph hit by a red light runner at an intersection.

[mfbikle]

There was Zero reason not to do these test on large SUVs.

[SeanAlegator]

Manufacturers need to tone down the headlight color temperature to 4300k instead of finding the most bizarre headlight designs just to reduce glare.

[jacobrzeszewski]

It's really baffling because by nature of their size, SUVs make the road less safe for other motorists and the rising hoodlines done for style are causing pedestrian fatalities.

[AgentSmith]

For those prices, they should do much better

[dustinwilkins]

It's about time y'all tested these vehicles. These have been the most popular class of vehicles in the US for a long time now and i truly believe the roads are less safe because these vehicles have been allowed to slip through the cracks by IIHS. The pedestrian fatalities are especially alarming when you see that most of the deaths are from vehicles like the ones tested in this video. I hope y'all continue to test them in the future.

[GXKid]

you really can't trust automakers to apply fixes to all their vehicles unless you test each one.

[jwalster]

Lesson learned: of you drive a small car, always avoid the idiots who drive massive oversized trucks and "s" uvs..

[tsikinite]

What a shame for Ford. When they redesigned the Explorer it earned a good rating. Perhaps they didn’t think that the IIHS was going to test their large SUV, as they haven’t done so in the past. It is an unethical business decision to only engineer safety in cars to pass a crash test. I wonder if the passenger side is less reinforced during the small overlap. One can only hope not.

[akj]

The Volvo XC90 from 20 years ago did better on the small overlap than this new Ford Expedition

[hyundaielantra]

Maybe bigger isn't better and all those regulations were for nothing

[T_Boi]

At first I thought it was a new frontal test, turns out, Ford forgot how to make good structures unfortunately

[FantomLightning]

Insane that not only has it taken this long for this class to be tested, but that despite being a class of basically 5 (missing Armada and Sequoia) you couldn’t manage to test them all.

[porothepotato]

When will you test the Toyota Sequoia, I noticed it was absent

[parkergray]

I contacted you guys years ago asking why you didn’t test this class of vehicles, you said their large size made them fare better in crashes, glad to see you went back on your word.