I would honestly be pretty disappointed if a car isn't able to pass NHTSA's tests. The new challenge is the IIHS small overlap test (25% of frontal area). Your news crew ran a short article on the first of these tests that were performed by the institute (where all of Toyota's vehicles failed in shocking fashion...). If the ATS passes that, that would really be impressive. Volvo and Honda are the current best in these tests.
"Loyal followers of our long-term fleet" not too many of those floating around anymore as you no doubt have noticed.
As for the crash ratings duck87 said it best anymore there is little reason why a vehicle shouldn't pass these tests. And I kinda hope that as airbag tech gets better we can see a return to stronger frames and bodies so if you are in a minor wreck the car isn't necessarily totaled instantly.
When I took Drivers' Ed in high school a few decades ago, our teacher showed us films from Germany of highway police officers paid to crash test cars into walls and trees for analysis. It was amazing watching a skilled driver plow straight into a telephone post, get out, and walk away. Guess they never heard about how "You could learn a lot from a dumm Kopf."
Mark, since you're a fan of these crash tests you should check out a good read in a recent article in MotorTrend (I'm 70% sure, it could have been C&D) that goes into detail what happens at the NHTSA while testing the "Small Overlap" on a Volvo. I have a feeling duck87 also read it. I don't know if you read rival publications, but you could rationalize it as doing homework on the competition. If you don't want anyone to know, I could always mail you a copy discreetly labelled as "Porn" or "Tax Audit". Let me know.
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As for the crash ratings duck87 said it best anymore there is little reason why a vehicle shouldn't pass these tests. And I kinda hope that as airbag tech gets better we can see a return to stronger frames and bodies so if you are in a minor wreck the car isn't necessarily totaled instantly.