Kia Soul & Forte, Nissan Sentra do horrible in new overlap test

[Kaido]

Well that's a bummer

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/08/autos/iihs-small-car-crash-test/index.html

The Institute put 12 new compact cars through the test, including two- and four-door versions of the Civic and two Kia models. The Kia Soul and Forte, as well as the Nissan Sentra, earned the worst possible rating of "Poor" in the test.

I had the Kia Soul on my list of cars to look at if/when my project car decides to the dust, since I enjoyed my last one so much. Maybe not so much anymore Although they are redesigning it again for 2014, so I'm betting the crash rating will improve (it's bigger). I'm suprised the Sentra did so poorly; I would have expected that out of the Versa, but the Sentra is a larger car. Oh well. I've become a lot more safety-conscious now that I tote around a toddler, plus I've been in several accidents as a result of being hit from other drivers, so I've started taking the safety aspect of cars a bit more seriously these days. Adulthood

In this case, while only the Civics earned the top possible rating of "Good" in the side impact test, the Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and Scion tC were rated "Acceptable." That was good enough to earn them, along with the Civic, the Institute's "Top Safety Pick Plus" award. That award is reserved for cars that perform well in all of the Institute's crash safety tests.

The Chevrolet Sonic, Cruze and Volkswagen Beetle earned "Marginal" ratings in the test. The Toyota Corolla wasn't tested because Toyota (TM) will be releasing a completely redesigned Corolla later this month. To top of page

The Toyota RAV4 also did surprisingly bad in the new test:

http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr071113.html

I did pick up a 2013 Civic for my wife earlier this year on lease, which looks like it was a good choice from a safety perspective. Plus it's a surprisingly really nice car. We've been talking about minivans and small SUV's for a family hauler and the newly-redesigned Subaru Forester looks nice both from the safety aspect and from not being an overly-huge family-sized vehicle. I'm glad automakers are stepping up in their safety ratings - I have plenty of friends who have died or been maimed in car accidents over the years, so anything that can improve your odds of surviving a wreck and not getting permanently injured is a good thing in my book :thumbsup:

 

[Pardus]

Only the two-door and four-door Honda Civic models earned the top rating of “good” in the tests done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and the 2014 Scion tC got “acceptable” ratings.

But popular models such as the Chevrolet Cruze and Sonic and the Volkswagen Beetle got “marginal” ratings, while the Nissan Sentra and the Kia Soul and 2014 Kia Forte each were rated “poor.

You should check this out before buying:
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/tsp_current.aspx
http://www.safercar.gov/

The odds of getting into a collision lessens when your not texting, paying attention to the road and other drivers and not tailgating.

I really hate it when it's pouring outside and some dumb schmuck is right on my ass.

 

[dbk]

being "Acceptable" is enough to get them Institute's "Top Safety Pick Plus" award??? What a farce!

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

But but the Honda is so boring.
Yeah who wants a car that starts every time and protects your loved ones in the event of an accident. Not to mention both of my Honda's will fetch top dollar being well taken care of one owner vehicles when it's time to sell.

 

[Jimzz]

But but the Honda is so boring.
Yeah who wants a car that starts every time and protects your loved ones in the event of an accident. Not to mention both of my Honda's will fetch top dollar being well taken care of one owner vehicles when it's time to sell.

I think Toyota is boring, but Honda is higher on the differant or nice scale IMO.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

I'm sure the Soul looks better after it's wrecked

 

[Kaido]

I'm sure the Soul looks better after it's wrecked

As a previous Soul owner...

...I laughed

 

[Zargon]

I'm suprised the Sentra did so poorly; I would have expected that out of the Versa, but the Sentra is a larger car.

size has NOTHING to do with crash safety.

why do people still think this way?

 

[Kaido]

size has NOTHING to do with crash safety.

why do people still think this way?

Because it's bigger? Usually more mass = heavier = better battering ram :biggrin:

 

[Insomniator]

I'm renting a Soul now, its the ugliest car I've ever seen, inside and out. Also has scary brakes that have locked up on me twice in 4 days (never happened once in my mini, or rental mazda3 and corolla).

 

[Kaido]

I'm renting a Soul now, its the ugliest car I've ever seen, inside and out. Also has scary brakes that have locked up on me twice in 4 days (never happened once in my mini, or rental mazda3 and corolla).

I actually really liked mine, that was sacasm above But then, weird styling appeals to me

What happened exactly with the brakes? Mine were great!

 

[Zenmervolt]

size has NOTHING to do with crash safety.

why do people still think this way?

Because it's true.

Even the IIHS explicitly says that you cannot compare crash test results across size classes because the larger vehicles, even with lower ratings, protect better than smaller vehicles. Ratings are only valid within a given size and weight class.

Obviously this doesn't mean that a full-size car with a "poor" rating will necessarily be better than a sub-compact with a "good" rating, but a full-size car with an "acceptable" rating is very likely to protect just as well as (or slightly better than) a sub-compact with a "good" rating.

ZV

 

[Kaido]

Because it's true.

Even the IIHS explicitly says that you cannot compare crash test results across size classes because the larger vehicles, even with lower ratings, protect better than smaller vehicles. Ratings are only valid within a given size and weight class.

Obviously this doesn't mean that a full-size car with a "poor" rating will necessarily be better than a sub-compact with a "good" rating, but a full-size car with an "acceptable" rating is very likely to protect just as well as (or slightly better than) a sub-compact with a "good" rating.

ZV

What scares me more is that most of these tests are only done at like 40 MPH. Aka, good luck at highway speeds!

 

[Zenmervolt]

What scares me more is that most of these tests are only done at like 40 MPH. Aka, good luck at highway speeds!

Most of the time there's enough opportunity for at least some braking before impact. I know that in motorcycle accidents, even though most accidents happen on roads with 45 mph or higher speed limits, the average speed at impact is still only in the mid to high 20 mph range.

Obviously there are still some high speed impacts, but the vast majority of the time the driver has enough opportunity to brake and reduce the speed of the vehicle to much less than freeway speed.

ZV

 

[nerp]

I'm glad I drive a huge ass car with a top safety rating. My daughter deserves it.

Before that, I drove a Yaris. With the child in the back, I felt like I was putting her on a golf tee surrounded by a fish tank. Scary as hell in that little death trap.

 

[Pardus]

Kia Soul crashes