Ford Shines In Backseat Test

If you cart around kids or even multiple other adults in a midsize SUV, you should be concerned about safety for those in a rear seats. With that in mind, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has decided to start placing dummies in the seat behind the driver during the moderate overlap front crash test to accurately measure how a passenger is protected by the seatbelt, curtain airbag, etc. The results were interesting.

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Ford had two models score a Good rating: the Explorer and Mach-E (don’t call it a Mustang). Only two other models achieved the same score, the Tesla Model Y and Subaru Ascent. Considering what we know about Subaru and Tesla when it comes to these sorts of crash tests, that’s not really a surprise.

Three of the vehicles tested earned a Marginal rating. Those were the Chevy Traverse, Toyota Highlander, and Volkswagen Atlas. All of them are quite popular with families, so we’re sure this news will concern plenty of parents.

What’s more disturbing is the fact six crossovers landed a Poor rating, meaning backseat passengers might be seriously hurt in one of these crashes. Those models were the Honda Pilot, Hyundai Palisade, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, Nissan Murano, and Mazda CX-9.

The dummy used in the backseat is designed to represent a small woman or 12-year-old child. In some of the tests, you can see the dummy’s head went behind the side curtain airbag or accelerated and hit the driver’s seatback. Submarining, or the dummy sliding down the seat and under the lap belt, causing abdominal injuries, was another issue observed by IIHS.

By focusing on the backseat, IIHS hopes to encourage automakers to make improvements to keep people not in the front seats just as safe during a crash.

Images via IIHS