Mazda CX-90: Safest Family SUV
This is the updated side-impact crash test. It’s one of two new demanding crash tests that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has introduced. The other one is the updated moderate overlap evaluation. These newly implemented tests have proven to be a significant hurdle for numerous vehicles, with many failing to achieve satisfactory results, which we’ve explored with recent videos. That’s what makes the Mazda CX-90’s performance so remarkable - it seems to effortlessly excel in almost every safety evaluation. Let’s delve into the CX-90’s impressive safety results and benchmark them against its rivals.
Updated Moderate Overlap Crash Test
The updated moderate overlap crash test assesses the protection of rear seat passengers.
Most new vehicles on sale today struggle in this test. The CX-90’s excellent performance though is a refreshing change.
Its restraints do a good job controlling the rear-seat dummy. The lap and shoulder portions of the seatbelts remained in their ideal positions throughout the crash. The seatbelts also kept the dummy’s head a safe distance from the front seats. The rear-seat dummy recorded a low risk of injuries to all body areas.
The Mazda scored the highest rating of Good in this evaluation.
The shoulder and lap belts remained in their ideal positions to control occupant movement and prevent injuries.
Updated Side Impact Crash Test
Next up is the updated side-impact evaluation, where vehicles are struck by a 4,200 pound barrier at 37 miles per hour.
The CX-90 did extremely well in the updated side-impact crash test. The structure proves to be very strong with the distance between the Mazda’s B-Pillar and seat center-line at 28.5 cm. This is better than most competing SUVs. Only the Honda Pilot and Volkswagen Atlas do better.
The side-curtain airbags did a great job protecting the dummies from making hard contact with any surfaces. These driver and passenger dummies recorded a low risk of injuries to all body areas.
Ultimately, the CX-90 scores the highest rating of good in this evaluation.
Small Overlap Crash Test (Driver and Passenger)
The small overlap crash test concentrates the crash forces on only 25% of the width of the vehicle, which makes it particularly challenging on the structure.
The CX-90 partially glances off the barrier and continues to travel forward a small distance. This small-overlap design strategy stretches out the time that the car has to decelerate and thus reduces the crash forces exerted on the occupants.
We can see the results of this when comparing it to a vehicle that uses a more traditional defensive strategy, such as this VW Atlas. The dummy movement is visually less smooth in the Atlas. It also shows up in the data too. The Head Injury Criterion is a measurement that let’s us know what the risk of a head injury is - the lower the number, the better. The dummy in the CX-90 recorded an excellent H.I.C. score of 68. The Atlas though pulls in a measurement of 516.
On the driver’s side, peak intrusion is a low 4 cm in the upper compartment and 7 cm in the lower compartment. On the passenger’s side, these numbers rise slightly to 5 cm in the upper compartment and 11 cm in the lower one. This passenger lower compartment intrusion number in the CX-90 is about midpack compared to the competition.
The risk of injuries to all body regions is low for both the driver and passenger.
Overall, the CX-90 earned the highest score of Good on the driver and passenger sides.
Crash Prevention, Vehicle to Pedestrian
The CX-90 has a standard automatic braking system. In the daytime tests, the vehicle avoided all collisions.
At night time, the CX-90 performed well in most scenarios. In this 37 miles per hour parallel adult test, the impact speed was reduced by 89% when using the high beams. When using the low beams, the speed was reduced by 70%.
Headlights
The CX-90 has two headlight variants available. The upgraded ones have excellent range in almost all conditions, but these do cause mild glare for other drivers on the right curves. These lights score the highest rating of Good.
On the base ones, the low beams fall short in the straight-away and the left curves. The high beams also fall short on the left curves. These headlights earn the second highest rating of Acceptable.
Headlight evaluation of the upgraded headlights in the Mazda CX-90.
Conclusion and Recommendation
If safety is a priority for you, than the Mazda CX-90 should be near the top of your shopping list. It’s one of the highest performers in almost every evaluation, including the updated moderate overlap, updated side impact, and small overlap tests. The automatic emergency braking system works well and performs better than most of the competition. The CX-90’s only weakness are the base headlights, and even these are not that bad.
All in all, the CX-90 makes an incredibly safe choice in the midsize SUV space. It also isn’t plagued with major safety issues like we have seen in the Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander, Subaru Ascent, and Volkswagen Atlas.
Checkout the safety performance of the Subaru Ascent.
Images courtesy of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).