Midsize crew-cab pickups are fashionable autos for a household or anybody wanting a flexible however succesful light-duty truck to haul folks and issues. Nonetheless, in line with the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security (IIHS), up to date crash exams reveal that rear-seat occupants are in danger for accidents in frontal collisions.

The IIHS mentioned, in an earlier assertion, that it up to date “its longest-running crash check, the reasonable overlap entrance analysis, to deal with a rising hole within the safety supplied for entrance and rear occupants.” This up to date check, launched in December, applies to all new passenger autos. The replace was made not due to worsening security for rear passengers however as a result of it wasn’t bettering on par with driver security.

The midsize crew-cab vans examined included the 2022 Chevrolet Colorado, 2022-2023 Ford Ranger, 2022-2023 Jeep Gladiator, 2022-2023 Nissan Frontier, and the 2022-2023 Toyota Tacoma. The vans got grades of Good, Acceptable, Marginal, and Poor.

All vans examined earned grades of Good or Acceptable for various measures of driver security. For rear passengers, solely the Frontier and Ranger obtained Good grades for head and neck accidents, the Colorado and Gladiator earned Marginal marks, and the Tacoma rated as Poor. Measuring for chest accidents in back-seat passenger dummies, solely the Frontier obtained a Good score. The Colorado and Ranger had been Marginal on this class, and the Gladiator and Tacoma had been Poor. All 5 vans earned Good scores in thigh damage measures for rear occupants.

Within the rear passenger restraints and kinematics class, the Gladiator ranked the perfect, incomes an Acceptable grade, whereas the Ranger did the worst, receiving a Poor grade. The opposite three pickups achieved Marginal scores in restraints and kinematics testing.

“For a car to earn a Good score, there can’t be an extreme danger of damage to the pinnacle, neck, chest or thigh, as recorded by the second-row dummy,” the IIHS says.

Not one of the 5 vans examined earned an general score of Good. The Frontier had the perfect general grade, incomes an Acceptable from the IIHS. The Ranger’s general grade was Marginal, whereas the Colorado, Gladiator, and Tacoma all obtained an general score of Poor.

IIHS President David Harkey notes the “up to date reasonable overlap entrance crash check proved to be difficult for small pickups.”

“A typical downside was that the rear passenger dummy’s head got here dangerously near the entrance seatback, and in lots of circumstances, dummy measurements indicated a danger of neck or chest accidents. All these items inform us that the rear seat belts want enchancment,” Harkey mentioned.