Most modern cars offer good protection in head-on collisions, but experts say off center “overlap” crashes are a different story. Those crashes primarily affect a car’s outer edges, which are less well protected, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The sides of the bumper do not offer the same protection that center of the bumper provides in head on crashes.
The IIHS released its findings Tuesday and said that only three of 11 midsize luxury and near-luxury cars earned good or acceptable ratings in the new overlap frontal crash test. Overlap crashes are responsible for a quarter of all fatal front-end collisions.
“Nearly every new car performs well in other frontal crash tests conducted by the Institute and the federal government, but we still see more than 10,000 deaths in frontal crashes each year,” Institute President Adrian Lund said in a news release. “Small overlap crashes are a major source of these fatalities.”
I have represented dozens of people injured in overlap crashes that have suffered serious injuries. I recently settled a case involving two cars coming around a curve in opposite directions where my client’s door was completely ripped off the car as you can see in this picture. He required two surgeries on his left arm. I got him a huge settlement.
If you’ve been hurt in a crash that wasn’t your fault, call my office today at 817-885-8000 for a free case evaluation and to learn how I can help you.