Two quick questions for those of you who follow safety testing and ratings:
1. To what extent would a Marginal or Poor rating on IIHS' new Small Overlap test lead you to disqualify a particular vehicle from consideration for your family? I'm looking at a few models that are listed as Top Safety Picks, but that can't get "TSP+" because of their bad results on the small offset test, e.g. Toyota Prius V and Honda CR-V. When you see the crash test videos and read the results, it certainly gives cause for concern. At the same time, it may not make sense to totally exclude a vehicle that meets our needs and is regarded as generally "safe," just because it does not do well on one test that is new and particularly demanding. I'm torn on this myself and wonder what others think.
2. Does anyone have safety data (or even just opinions) on the Mazda 5? IIHS doesn't list anything at all for this vehicle. NHTSA's most recent results are from 2010, and although the Mazda 5 did well, these results are from the "old" testing system which is described as no longer comparable with the current tests.
1. To what extent would a Marginal or Poor rating on IIHS' new Small Overlap test lead you to disqualify a particular vehicle from consideration for your family? I'm looking at a few models that are listed as Top Safety Picks, but that can't get "TSP+" because of their bad results on the small offset test, e.g. Toyota Prius V and Honda CR-V. When you see the crash test videos and read the results, it certainly gives cause for concern. At the same time, it may not make sense to totally exclude a vehicle that meets our needs and is regarded as generally "safe," just because it does not do well on one test that is new and particularly demanding. I'm torn on this myself and wonder what others think.
2. Does anyone have safety data (or even just opinions) on the Mazda 5? IIHS doesn't list anything at all for this vehicle. NHTSA's most recent results are from 2010, and although the Mazda 5 did well, these results are from the "old" testing system which is described as no longer comparable with the current tests.