Honda Civic Aces new IIHS Dual Barrier Crash Test

 
DETROIT -- Two redesigned Honda Civic models were the only small cars to get the top rating in stringent front-end crash tests performed by an insurance industry group.

Half of the 12 compact and subcompact cars tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety fared poorly, but six performed well. Safety is critical in the fast-growing small-car market, as buyers downsize from larger vehicles.

The two-door and four-door Civics earned "good" ratings, while the Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and the 2014 Scion tC were "acceptable."

Popular models such as the Chevrolet Cruze and Sonic and the Volkswagen Beetle got "marginal" ratings, while the Nissan Sentra, Kia Soul and 2014 Kia Forte were rated "poor."

The group didn't test the Toyota Corolla because a new version is coming out in the fall. The Corolla is the No. 2-selling small car in America, behind the Civic.

The two Civic models and the Dart, Focus, Elantra and Scion tC each earned the IIHS' coveted Top Safety Pick Plus award for performing well in multiple tests, including the small offset crash. So far, 25 vehicles of all sizes have earned the award.

The IIHS ratings are influential because many auto shoppers find them while researching vehicles on the Internet.

The market for small cars is one of fastest-growing in the U.S. Automakers have made the cars quieter and more refined as people who want good gas mileage turn to compacts and subcompacts.

So far this year, Americans have bought more than 1.8 million new small cars, up 12 per cent over a year ago, according to Autodata Corp. IIHS said that as a group, small cars performed worse than mid-sized cars, but better than small SUVs.

Results for mini-cars will be released later in the year, the group said. Kia said in a statement the IIHS test goes beyond U.S. government requirements and noted the Soul and Forte received top safety ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Nissan said it will review the IIHS tests. The Sentra, it said, performed well in other IIHS tests.

Honda bolstered the Civic's front structure as part of a redesign late last year, said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

Some older models, such as the Cruze and Sonic, were designed before the test was announced.

The IIHS, a non-profit research group funded by insurance companies, conducts its small offset test by crashing vehicles into a fixed 1.5-metre-tall barrier at 65 km/h to simulate collisions with a utility pole or tree.

The institute gives vehicles demerits when the structure intrudes into the passenger compartment, or if a crash dummy suffers injuries to head, neck, chest or other body parts. "Good" is the top rating, followed by "acceptable," then "marginal" and "poor."

 --The Associated Press