This is the original moderate overlap front crash test. It replicates a head-on collision between two vehicles of similar weight, in which the front left portion of each vehicle strikes the other.
In the test, a vehicle is driven into a deformable barrier at 40 miles per hour with 40 percent of its front end making contact on the driver side. A single dummy sits in the driver seat. Because the impact is concentrated on one side, the structure on that side has to absorb almost everything. When it can’t, the floor buckles, the footwell folds back onto the driver’s legs, and the steering wheel is driven up and into the dummy’s head.
This test has produced some shockingly bad results. These are the worst of them.
Pontiac Trans Sport
The 1997 Pontiac Trans Sport experienced terrible intrusion.
The left side of the footwell was driven 51 centimeters into the cabin — roughly 20 inches. The A-pillar moved rearward a dangerous 30 centimeters. The steering column, the instrument panel and the brake pedal all collapsed into the occupant cabin.
What happened next is worse. Extreme steering wheel movement violently snapped the dummy’s head backward. The floor then buckled under the driver seat, tilting the seatback and head restraint forward until they hit the back of the dummy’s head.
Head and neck injury risk was rated Poor. So was injury risk to both legs, which were left with almost no space in what remained of the footwell.
Ford F-150
The 2001 Ford F-150 was the best-selling vehicle in America when it earned a Poor.
The brake pedal was driven 46 centimeters back into the footwell — about 18 inches — and the steering column moved a dramatic 29 centimeters upward.
Both doors on the driver side partially opened during the crash, leaving the rear door hanging from the roof rail it had been latched to.
The frontal airbag deployed too late. The dummy’s head bottomed out the bag and struck the steering wheel, and the driver seat pitched so far forward that the dummy spent much of the crash wedged into a narrow space between the steering wheel and the head restraint. Head and neck injury risk was rated Poor.
Chevrolet Astro
In the 1996 Chevrolet Astro, the floor buckled directly underneath the driver seat.
The center of the footwell was driven in 40 centimeters. As the floor collapsed, the seat pitched forward and the seatback hit the dummy’s head from behind. The head then hit the steering wheel through the deflating frontal airbag.
The left knee jammed against the knee bolster with nearly three times the force measured on the right, and injury risk to the left leg and foot was rated Poor.
Nissan Quest
The 1999 Nissan Quest lost 40 centimeters of footwell — about 16 inches — while the steering column moved 22 centimeters upward and 15 centimeters rearward.
That was enough for the dummy’s head to bottom out the frontal airbag and hit the steering wheel. On rebound, the head hit the window sill. Injury risk to the left leg and foot was rated Poor.
Chrysler Cirrus
The 1995 Chrysler Cirrus failed at the roof. The roof rail buckled severely, and the instrument panel and steering wheel were driven back into the driver’s survival space.
Footwell intrusion reached 39 centimeters and the A-pillar moved rearward 25 centimeters. Injury risk to both legs was rated Poor, and the dummy’s right foot finished trapped in a pocket created by footwell intrusion and buckling of the center console.
Isuzu Rodeo
In the 1996 Isuzu Rodeo, the footrest was driven 39 centimeters into the cabin.
Both of the dummy’s legs jammed against the instrument panel, and the left knee hit a sharp edge of the panel hard enough to gash the dummy’s vinyl skin. Injury risk to both legs was rated Poor.
The seatback also moved forward far enough that the head restraint hit the back of the dummy’s head, and the torso rotated until the back of the head nearly struck the bottom of the window frame.
Kia Sephia
The 1997 Kia Sephia used special stitching in the lap belt, designed to tear and lengthen under load. The belt stretched too much, the driver door deformed, and the dummy was left almost unrestrained.
The dummy’s head and shoulder ended up outside the door frame entirely. Late in the crash, the head hit the B-pillar.
Forces on the left femur were the highest recorded in this group. Footwell intrusion reached 35 centimeters, and injury risk to both legs was rated Poor.
Dodge Ram 1500
In the 2001 Dodge Ram 1500, the frontal airbag deployed too late and the steering column moved 20 centimeters upward. The dummy’s head bottomed out the bag and hit the steering wheel.
Floor buckling tilted the driver seat forward and toward the door, and the seat came loose on one of its tracks. On rebound, the dummy’s head dropped below the window sill and hit the inside of the door — smeared greasepaint confirms the contact.
Volkswagen Passat
The 1995 Volkswagen Passat looks almost undamaged from the outside. The floor tells a different story.
Buckling underneath seriously compromised the occupant compartment. The seat slid forward along its track and pitched forward and to the left, and the dummy’s head finished outside the cabin, in the gap between the roof rail and the door frame.
Footwell intrusion reached up to 36 centimeters.
Daewoo Leganza
The 1999 Daewoo Leganza combined 37 centimeters of peak footwell intrusion with door sill buckling that left the driver door bowed outward.
Both of the dummy’s feet were trapped. On rebound, the head hit the window sill and then moved up and struck the roof rail.
Isuzu Amigo
In the 1998 Isuzu Amigo, footwell intrusion of 36 centimeters trapped the dummy’s left foot under the clutch pedal.
The driver door bowed so sharply that the dummy’s head went through the door frame during rebound, then hit the B-pillar. Far too much upward movement of the steering wheel left the dummy’s motion uncontrolled from the start.
Ford Aerostar
The 1996 Ford Aerostar produced a dangerous and unique failure. The dummy’s head hit the steering wheel through the frontal airbag, and then the steering wheel broke off from its column. The wheel and the airbag ended up in the dummy’s lap.
Footwell intrusion reached 36 centimeters and the steering column moved 21 centimeters upward.
Mitsubishi Galant
The 1995 Mitsubishi Galant distorted badly enough to shorten the width of the driver door opening, and the A-pillar was driven backward toward the dummy’s head.
The dummy’s left shoulder hit a sharp buckling edge of the window frame. Its left knee pushed through the instrument panel and hit the steering column’s mounting hardware, gashing the dummy’s skin.
Cadillac Seville
The 1997 Cadillac Seville recorded 37 centimeters of footwell intrusion with 15 centimeters of upward steering column movement. Injury risk to the right leg and foot was rated Poor, and on rebound the back of the dummy’s head hit the window sill.
Chevrolet Blazer
In the 1996 Chevrolet Blazer, the back of the dummy’s head hit the window sill hard enough to dent it, and blue greasepaint on the B-pillar shows where the side of the head struck at almost the same moment.
Occupant compartment deformation even reached the passenger side, something that rarely happens in a crash on the driver side.