Toyota is no more the apple of the eye for Consumer Reports, due to safety concerns surrounding the automaker's cars.
Recently, an Oklahoma jury had ordered a $3 million verdict against Toyota in a sudden acceleration crash case. The car involved was a 2005 Toyota Camry and the crash resulted in the death of an occupant and seriously injuring the other. Now a new report suggests that more Toyota cars are under the scanner, related to passenger safety concerns.
According to Consumer Reports, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducted a crash test to find the impact of frontal collision on occupants sitting in a car. As a result of the small-overlap frontal crash test, Consumer Reports suggests that it will not recommend four cars: the Audi A4, Toyota Camry, Prius V and RAV4.
The small-overlap crash test was introduced in 2012 and designed to imitate the implications of a crash when only the front corner of a car strikes an object. The Consumer Reports points to a 2009 IIHS study, which indicates that around 25 percent of frontal car collisions involve life threating injury to front-seat occupants.
"Consumer Reports' longstanding criteria for recommending vehicles stipulates that a model score well in our testing, have average or better reliability, and perform adequately if included in crash tests performed by the IIHS and the government. Initially, we held off factoring in this new test until the IIHS had put a significant number of vehicles through it," per Consumer Reports.
The report suggests that the IIHS has tested over 60 cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and only 11 vehicles received a "Good" rating (the highest) and 15 received a "Poor" rating. According to Consumer Reports, some car makers will have to change the design of their vehicles so that their results are better in the test.
Cars which receive a poor rating in the crash test are not recommended by Consumer Reports and now the Audi A4, Toyota Camry, Prius V and RAV4 have also joined the poor rating list. However, cars with a poor rating in the crash test may regain Consumer Reports' recommendations if they achieve a better score in the small-overlap test, if re-tested.
It will be interesting to see if Toyota's car sales will get impacted in the U.S.
