The 2014 Subaru Forester came out on top in a recent crash test, being one of only 13 compact crossovers and S.U.V.s to win the top rating in a new, more stringent test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The vehicle received a rating of "Good."
Possible ratings include Good, Acceptable, Marginal and Poor. Components of the overall rating include vehicle structure, potential injuries to the dummy and how well the dummy is restrained. The 2014 Subaru Forester was the first of 47 tested vehicles to receive Good ratings in all categories.
"It's what we envisioned when we were first developing this test," Joe Nolan, the institute's vice president for vehicle research, said. "They addressed the issues of structure. They addressed the issues of keeping the occupant engaged with the frontal air bag; keeping the steering wheel in front of the driver; deploying the side curtain air bag. All of those things, when they work together, they work very well."
Vehicles that trailed the 2014 Subaru Forester included the Honda CR-V, two-door Jeep Wrangler, Nissan Rouge, BMW X1, Mazda CX-5 and Volkswagen Tiguan, all of which received a rating of Marginal.
Vehicles that received a rating of Poor included the Ford Escape, Hyundai Tucson, Buick Encore, Kia Sportage and Jeep Patriot.
The test involves a replica of a crash whereby the corner of a car hits an object like a pole or tree. 25 percent of the car's front end on the driver's side hits a ridge barrier at 40 miles per hour. The test is not included in the federal government's five-star ratings.
"With the redesigned Forester, Subaru's engineers set out to do well in our new test and they succeeded," Joe Nolan, the vice president for vehicle research at IIHS, said. "This is exactly how we hoped manufacturers would respond to improve protection for people in these kinds of serious frontal crashes."
Absent from the test was the Toyota RAV4, which will be tested later this year. In the wake of the conspicuous absence, Toyota claimed to have asked for the delay to improve the vehicle's performance.
Check out the video below from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which reviews the 2014 Subaru Forester's performance in the test.
