The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released new crash test videos this morning showing the results of three iconic American muscle cars – none earned the research organization’s sought-after Top Safety Pick award.
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To earn the IIHS Top Safety Pick designation, cars must achieve good ratings in five categories – small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint evaluations – and must receive at least a basic score in front crash prevention.
To earn the title, a auto must score “good” ratings in five crash categories, including roof strength and side crashes, and it must have “advanced or superior” front crash prevention.
The Challenger’s crash testing was full of challenges. “Our technicians had to unbolt the dummy’s foot from its leg in order to free it. Entrapment is pretty rare”.
The tests come at a time when the three muscle cars are becoming more popular with consumers.
Unlike more sedate sedans, none of the 2016 muscle icons earned scores needed to clinch a Top Safety Pick award from the US nonprofit auto insurer organization. Side impact tests were also conducted, at which all three received “good” ratings. The overlap analysis also throws up challenges as it tests a vehicle’s outer-edges that aren’t reinforced by a crash structure like other parts of the body.
“The Challenger wasn’t up to the challenge of the small overlap test”, IIHS said in a statement. “Its small overlap rating holds it back”, says Adrian Lund, IIHS president, in a release.
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The Challenger, made by Fiat Chrysler, trailed its competitors, General Motors’ Camaro and Ford’s Mustang. (Sorry, I had to.) In the same test the Mustang “the driver’s survival space wasn’t well-maintained”, but the Camaro did well. FCA U.S. vehicles meet or exceed all applicable government safety requirements. “[Muscle auto drivers] tend to be over-involved in single-vehicle crashes”, he says.
