The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows how a Subaru BRZ performs when all heck breaks loose.
- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crashed a 2022 Subaru BRZ to see how well it can handle impacts.
- The IIHS awarded the ‘22 Subaru BRZ its Top Safety Pick Plus award for its performance.
- This crash test video shows how much energy is in a small overlap impact, and how the Subaru BRZ manages that energy.
Crashing a car is not fun and is never ideal. Unfortunately, collisions happen. Thankfully, crash tests exist, and it’s hugely reassuring to see how a vehicle performs in some of these situations. Not only are cars deliberately crashed to meet various national standards, companies like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) perform benchmark crash tests to show exactly how these machines stack up in these troubling scenarios and grade them accordingly. The latest test? The ‘22 Subaru BRZ goes up against a wall in a dangerous small overlap test.
Small sports coupes might not be the first cars to jump to mind when you think about collision safety. According to the IIHS, though, the new BRZ performs well, earning a resounding Good rating for this front overlap crash. This score is echoed in the moderate overlap test, side crash test, and for its roof strength. The IIHS also tests more than crashes, and the BRZ hits the necessary metrics with its only IIHS weakness being the coupe’s LATCH system’s usability.
It’s easy to minimize these scores on a sheet of paper, but it’s harder to argue with the tape. The video footage above shows what happens when a Subaru BRZ sees a small overlap collision from 40 mph. Obviously, the Subaru would likely need significant repairs to put it back on the road, but the cockpit seems to hold its shape well. You can also see how the impact energy ripples through the rest of the car’s sheetmetal, dampening the shock the occupants might otherwise absorb.
The video shows the crash from multiple angles and at different speeds, which highlights the violence and significance of one of these small overlap collisions. It’s safe to say that you don’t want to experience one of these, but it’s reassuring to see how the BRZ manages the impact. Check it all out in the video above.
Keyword: Here’s How the Subaru BRZ Handles a Crash Test