To promote further improvements in frontal crash worthiness of modern vehicles, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety developed a small overlap frontal crash test to evaluate driver protection. Small overlap crashes are not addressed by any other regulatory or consumer information crash tests, even though these crashes account for as many as 24% of frontal crashes involving modern vehicles that result in serious injury or death. A series of small overlap frontal crash tests reveals that not all contemporary restraint systems are capable of mitigating injuries observed in real-world small overlap crashes. Many of the vehicles exhibited limited driver dummy head interaction with the frontal airbag, excessive steering wheel motion, nondeployment of side head (curtain) airbags, and excessive dummy forward excursion. Although improvements in occupant compartment structural integrity can address many of the problems observed in these tests, changes to current restraint systems are needed for optimal protection in these crashes. Furthermore, better restraint systems can ameliorate the consequences of suboptimal vehicle structures.
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