Bang and Blame: 2022 Toyota Tacoma fumbles crash test

Article content

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an independent and non-profit organization, has found an extended cab 2022 Toyota Tacoma to be deficient in their notoriously tough ‘small overlap’ crash test.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Bang and Blame: 2022 Toyota Tacoma fumbles crash test Back to video

At issue was an intrusion of the pickup’s door frame and dashboard into the occupant survival space. This could contribute to heightened injury risks to the front seat passenger. Injury measurements taken from the crash test dummy indicated a high risk of injury to the occupant’s right leg and a moderate risk of injury to the left leg. While the the truck’s airbags are said to have performed reasonably well, the dummy’s head did strike grab handle located on the A-pillar.

Article content

Believe it or not, this rating of ‘marginal’ is actually an improvement, applying to trucks built after October 2021. Models built prior to that date are rated ‘poor.’ Why? Toyota had to modify the pickup’s rear leaf springs — arc-shaped steel pieces which stabilize the rear axle — after the IIHS determined one of the leafs punctured a test truck’s fuel tank, resulting in a fire risk and an automatic scoring downgrade to the cellar. Toyota’s modifications corrected the fuel-leak problem but other issues persisted, as noted above, resulting in this ‘marginal’ rating.

Pro tip: the build date of any vehicle can be found on its build tag, a square ticker or metal plate generally found somewhere in the driver’s door jamb. With this safety information in hand, it’s worth a peek.

Article content

The so-called ‘small overlap’ test has flummoxed some auto makers for years. The exam is designed to simulate what happens when the front corner of a vehicle impacts another car or stationary obstacle such as a utility pole. The test vehicle travels at 40 mph (64 km/h) toward a barrier with 25 per cent of the vehicle’s front end overlapping the barrier. The resulting wreck primarily affects a car’s outer edge which isn’t generally well protected by traditional crush-zone structures. With crash forces going directly into items like the front suspension system and firewall, conditions are ripe for injury.

Article content

The IIHS now routinely tests small overlap on either the driver or passenger side. Years ago, after the safety group introduced the test which almost every company promptly flunked, some automakers were discovered to have added protection only to the driver’s side area of their vehicles so it could pass this specific test. The gig was up when the IIHS started testing the passenger side as well.

Back at the Toyota test, the IIHS noted the Tacoma earned ‘good’ ratings (the highest available) in five other crashworthiness evaluations — the driver-side small overlap, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength, and head restraint tests.