2014 LEAF gets "Poor" rating in Small Overlap IIHS test

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kubel

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 13, 2012
Messages
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Location
Southeast Michigan
Just released footage from IIHS testing the 2014 LEAF in the Small Overlap test:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgxpGCib0PY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvs7A8tMqkk[/youtube]
(thanks to RegGuheert for finding this second video explaining why the LEAF failed)

-Structure
The driver's space was seriously compromised by intruding structure. Lower interior intrusion measured as much as 40 cm at the lower hinge pillar. Upper interior intrusion measured 35 cm at the hinge pillar and as much as 36 cm at the instrument panel. The parking brake pedal was pushed in 31 cm toward the driver, and the steering column was pushed back 9 cm.

Injury measures
Measures from the dummy indicate that injuries to the left knee and left lower leg would be likely in a crash of this severity and injuries to the left thigh would be possible.

Restraints and dummy kinematics
The dummy’s head barely contacted the frontal airbag before sliding off the left side as the steering column moved 23 cm to the right, leaving the head vulnerable to contact with forward side structure and allowing little airbag cushioning for the chest. The side curtain airbag deployed but does not have sufficient forward coverage to protect the head from contact with forward side structure and outside objects. The side torso airbag deployed.

Starting with 2014, the LEAF is no longer a Top Safety Pick (it was in 2011-2013). For comparison, the following plugins are Top Safety Picks:

Volt
Focus
Fusion
C-Max
Spark

How significant is a "poor" ranking? Per IIHS, an occupant in a car rated “good” is 46 percent less likely to die in a frontal crash than a driver of a vehicle rated “poor.” A driver of a car rated “acceptable” or “marginal” is 33 percent less likely to die than a driver of a poorly rated one.
 
Huh, looks the same as this to my untrained eye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCO7nrvfLWY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I see why side airbags are used now...
 
IIRC the Prius also scored a Poor. The manufacturers keep 'building for the test' instead of mainly studying Real World crashes and aiming to protect against those. Then the tests get improved and many fall flat...
 
The difference is in what the instruments in the car and test dummy record, and things that go on inside the car that are not visible from the external video...

Volt3939 said:
Huh, looks the same as this to my untrained eye.
 
http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/ratings-info/frontal-crash-tests" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

apvbguy said:
did the parameters of the test change? I don't believe that the car is any different structurally in 2014
 
apvbguy said:
the test hasn't changed, the car hasn't changed so why has the rating changed?

I think it's the first time they did this "small overlap" test. As LEAF hasn't changed structurally, IIHS has also given a poor rating to the 2013 model.
 
theds said:
apvbguy said:
the test hasn't changed, the car hasn't changed so why has the rating changed?

I think it's the first time they did this "small overlap" test. As LEAF hasn't changed structurally, IIHS has also given a poor rating to the 2013 model.

The small overlap test was introduced in 2012 and they only do a few models at a time. The LEAF had not been previously run through this test.

There are a fair number of cars that previously were top safety picks which had poor results in this new test, including two of the Prius models.
 
Volt3939 said:
Huh, looks the same as this to my untrained eye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCO7nrvfLWY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I see why side airbags are used now...
+1

What's interesting is that in both the LEAF and the Volt tests, the dummy's head slips off the left side of the airbag that deploys from the steering wheel. But in the LEAF test, the stress on the neck appears to be much more violent.

The other thing I notice is that the Volt translates a bit to its right, meaning the barrier did not go as far into the driver's compartment. In the LEAF, I saw no translation (only the rotation that both cars exhibit) resulting in the barrier going fully into the area where the driver's left leg should be.

This looks like a very severe test which replicates something that could actually happen in real life. I'm glad to see the safety standards continually improving!

Edit: In this video, they give some description of the problems in the LEAF test:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvs7A8tMqkk[/youtube]
 
colt.jpg
 
I was seriously considering buying a leaf until I saw the news this morning. They said the dummies in the leafs had their faces broken. Ouch! I Don't feel like dying to save a few bucks on gas. If I want to live that dangerously, I'll buy another motorcycle.

I do love the concept of the car though. I'll consider it if they ever get their safety ratings back up.
 
How is it possible thar the dummies had their faces broken if the protection for head, neck and chest is Good (check the table before your post), and the head has no contact with the dash? FUD?
 
Like someone said early, the cars haven't changed, the test has.

Full frontal or side at 40 mph hit, the leaf scores very good, but striking one side of the front is very different.

BIG difference here, the leaf is carrying more mass, full BEV, and folds up in this type of strike. ( legs, ankle, left thigh )

Bottom line, drive a leaf, wish to live, slow the F down :/ , you'll live longer :)
 
nikotromus11 said:
I was seriously considering buying a leaf until I saw the news this morning. They said the dummies in the leafs had their faces broken. Ouch! I Don't feel like dying to save a few bucks on gas. If I want to live that dangerously, I'll buy another motorcycle.

I do love the concept of the car though. I'll consider it if they ever get their safety ratings back up.

Fair enough. Consider, though, that this happens every time a new test is introduced. When the first offset frontal tests were introduced a lot of cars with top safety ratings did poorly in the new test. Then again when side impact tests were introduced. If you can, look at a car built in the early 1990s versus one of the same model built in the late 1990s - you'll invariably see much, much thicker doors (with the exception of a few European cars that were ahead of the curve due to European safety tests).

The question is what do you do if you have one of those cars when the results are announced? You've been driving it around for months or years. Did it suddenly become unsafe? And if you do move into a new car that scores higher on the current tests, might that car also score poorly on the next phase of testing to be introduced a few years from now?

Those are questions that each individual must answer for him/herself.
 
I am glad they are doing the new test. It will just get car companies to consider other types of crashes besides the normal head-on, side and back. In reality there are a plethora of accidents that occur of this corner overlap type, so its nice to see it being addressed. That said, I am pretty sure you can look at many cars of the road today and find some crash metric they scored poorly in. Yes there are a few awesome and outstanding cars, but people still drive the poor rating ones all the time. That's not to say they are unsafe - they couldn't be sold if they were - they just aren't as safe as other cars out there.
 
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