ARLINGTON, VA (WWJ)--For the most part, electric vehicles performed well on a new series of crash tests from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
“We had the BMW I4, the Chevy Blazer EV, the Tesla Cybertruck and the Volkswagen ID Buzz all earning good ratings,” says Raul Arbelaez, Vice President Vehicle Research Center at IIHS.
These four were among seven electric vehicles put through what the institute calls its moderate overlap front test, which simulates striking a tree or a phone pole at 40 miles per hour. Roughly 40 percent of the front of the vehicle overlaps the barrier.
Tesla’s Model 3 received an acceptable rating. Poor ratings were given to the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Nissan Ariya.
“Some of the biggest difference for these vehicles, in these crash tests, were really just protection of the rear seated occupants,” says Arbealez.
The Ariya’s restraints worked well to control the motion of the rear dummy during the crash, according to the test report, but injury metrics showed a high risk of chest injuries.
In the F-150 Lightning, IIHS says measurements taken from the rear dummy showed a high risk of not only chest injuries but also injuries to the head or neck. In addition, the rear dummy’s lap belt moved from the ideal position on the pelvis onto the abdomen, which increases the risk of internal injuries.
The Insurance Institute is still doing a number of other testing of this group of vehicles, but they have completed testing the headlights and that news is not good.
When it comes to headlights, none of the vehicles in the group earn good ratings. However, five of the seven vehicles come exclusively with acceptable-rated headlights. The outliers are the i4, which is available with marginal or poor headlights, and the Cybertruck, which comes only with poor-rated headlights.
Arbealez says crash tests do not show any issues that would be specific to electric vehicles. EV’s, he says, generally have the same issues as gasoline powered vehicles, and in general have done fairly well on Insurance Institute crash tests
“These vehicles have a lot of same vehicle structures that protect occupants; seat belts, and airbags.”
The batteries add more weight, which can be an issue. But the lack of an engine in the front doesn’t appear to make any difference.
“You know years ago, we thought that might make a difference. But, we’ve conducted a few studies, and we’ve found that overall the stiffness of these vehicles in the front is very similar to conventional combustion engine vehicles.”