This article criticises the frontal offset crash tests proposed by the USA's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The organisation authoring the article, the USA's Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has been conducting such tests since 1995 and feels that the main focus of these tests should be the structural integrity of the vehicle. The NHTSA had felt that increased vehicle stiffness to meet offset test requirements could increase the risks for occupants in less well designed vehicles but the IIHS has found that tested vehicles with good evaluations have lower death rates for their own occupants and for occupants of other struck vehicles. The article suggests that the NHTSA tests are inadequately analysed and poorly designed.
Samenvatting