TSX69

Acura TL Aces Stricter IIHS Frontal Crash Test
VW CC Loses a Door

The Volvo S60 and Acura TL have aced the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s newest requirement to earn Top Safety Pick status. Not too long ago, the IIHS added the roof strength test, but with the stricter frontal crash test, the institute is already looking to make it a bit tougher for vehicles to earn the coveted designation.

Acura TL Aces Stricter IIHS Frontal Crash Test, VW CC Loses a Door imageThe new small overlap frontal crash test, designed to simulate what would happen when the front corner of a car collides with another vehicle or object, constitutes the front end of the driver’s side striking a 5-foot tall rigid barrier at 40 mph. The IIHS claims this is the 1st test of its kind conducted outside of automakers’ proving grounds in the U.S. and Europe. In its first round of testing 11 midsize luxury and premium cars, only 3 earned good or acceptable ratings.

Along with the good rating of the Volvo S60 and Acura TL, the Infiniti G earned an acceptable rating, while the Acura TSX, BMW 3 Series, and Lincoln MKZ earned a marginal rating. All 11 models tested were from the 2012 model year. Poor ratings were received by the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Lexus IS 250/350, Lexus ES 350, and Audi A4. As for the Volkswagen CC, the 4-door was the 1st vehicle the IIHS had ever evaluated to completely lose its door.

Acura TL Aces Stricter IIHS Frontal Crash Test, VW CC Loses a Door imageThe new test comes after a 2009 IIHS study revealed small overlap crashes accounted for nearly a quarter of frontal accidents that led to serious injuries or fatalities for front-seat occupants, suggesting it was more important to test vehicles for that type of crash.

“These are severe crashes, and our new test reflects that,” said IIHS president Adrian Lund. “Most automakers design their vehicles to ace our moderate overlap frontal test and NHTSA’s full-width frontal test, but the problem of small overlap crashes hasn’t been addressed. We hope our new rating program will change that.”

Currently, the IIHS evaluates front, side, rollover, and rear crashes, with the front rating based on a moderate overlap test. The existing criteria will continue on for 2013, but vehicles that pass the small overlap test with flying colors will be recognized. Midsize cars, such as the top-selling Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Ford Fusion will make up the next round of small frontal crash testing.

012TL-GLM

Truly excellent engineering on Honda/Acura/Volvo

When I first saw the article on CNN this morning I figured the Acura did poorly since they chose it for the picture, but pleasantly surprised after reading the article

Hogan9166

iTrader: (1)

Does the '12 have significant upgrades in safety over the '09-'11, or can we assume our older 4Gs would have similar results?

weather

These results are confusing...Wasn't it just recently that they had downgraded the safety rating of the TL and why some owners were considering dumping their TL because of the results. Now this?! I suspect that alot of VW CC owners getting soem "For SALE" signs *lol*

tuxacura

I think the downgrade is from the NHTSA. IIHS has always had a good rating for the TL, even for the 09-11 ones.

tenstrum

Does this apply to the pre-April '12 TLs as well?

dsm918

This article makes no sense...I don't know who or what to believe anymore

See my thread here >>>>

https://acurazine.com/forums/4g-tl-2009-2014-123/safety-rating-2012-tls-please-advise-862704/

docboy

If I remember correctly the downgrade of the 09-11 TL occurred only after the "new" roll-over roof strength test; many other makes were downgraded as well. Acura did some adjustments to increase roof strength and the 12 TL was "upgraded" again.

Hard to say whether 09-11 TLs had any structural differences to the front and rear compared to the 12 TLs. Does anyone know? Edit: I guess the post above by dsm918 mentions test ratings differ with certain 2012 models. Hmm....

imakeholesinu

Too bad the TSX was one of the 8 that scored horrible on this test. http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/...ash-tests?lite

weather

tuxacura & docboy....Thank you both for taking the time to reply and provide insight. Your answers both provide some great insight but by judging by the other posts, it appears I was not the only one confused about the various ratings. It is almost like reading the research studies...one day, coffee is good for you, another day, it isn't (and so on).

To be totally honest, I would not put much consideration about teh ratings when buying a car so its irrelevant for me but raises the point of how some information can create more confusion than be useful. I digress

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Saw this on the news today. Made me proud....

pimpin-tl

I am glad both our TL's are safe.

FirstTL12

Yeah but talk about one of those benefits of your car that you don't ever want to test out...

jayson888

yay Acura!

JT4

Yeah, I read that review yesterday. Good for Acura.

The_Tripzter

And now for something different, the IIHS video of the crash: