WASHINGTON — Trucks are some of the most popular vehicles on the road, and a new study looks at how well they perform in crashes.
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A new series of crash tests on large pickups produced mixed results.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) looked at 4 popular brands. All of them performed well during a side-impact collision, and in head-on collision crashes, the vehicles protected the driver.
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But, all 4 brands were given marginal or poor grades when it came to preventing injury to riders in the backseat.
“In all 4 cases, the pelvis of the rear occupant slid under the belt,” Joe Nolan said.
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Joe Nolan is the senior vice president of research for IIHS. He and researchers at IIHS used a dummy about the size of an adolescent in their tests. Nolan said it can be dangerous when the pelvis slides under the belt.
“We see it as a problem for rear-seat occupants where abdominal injuries could be quite severe,” he said.
Researchers stress that overall, today’s vehicles are very safe, but this new test that looks at back seat performance is exposing some flaws.
The same crash has been studied in other vehicles, from minivans to SUVs, and they also produced poor results.
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The IIHS wants automakers to redesign seatbelts in the back to be as safe and effective as those in the front.
“So, the automakers have demonstrated a long record of being able to make changes once issues have been identified, and we expect that they’ll do the same in this case,” Nolan said.
The IIHS said that automakers are already looking at making those changes in future vehicles.
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