‘Incredibly alarming’: Ford Escape fails IIHS crash test
DETROIT – One of the nation’s most popular compact SUVs was rated “poor” in a new round of independent tests of seven of the family vehicles to gauge their ability to protect passengers in a major crash, it was disclosed Wednesday.
The 2018 Ford Escape had the worst safety rating of smaller sport-utility models put through the latest round of front passenger-side crash evaluations by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the testing arm of the insurance industry.
Both the 2018 Escape and the 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, which had a “marginal” rating, had airbags that didn’t deploy in the crash.
The top safety scores of “good” went to the 2018 models of the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, Jeep Compass, BMW X1 and Mitsubishi Outlander.
Marginal is a failing grade. Poor is the worst. A vehicle must have a lot of different things go wrong or appear to have a failure that could lead to serious injury in order to receive a poor score.
In the case of the Ford Escape, “the occupant survival space was badly compromised” with a frame design that crushes passengers in the right hip and thigh area, said Becky Mueller, senior research engineer for IIHS.
“The side curtain airbag didn’t deploy at all in the roof rail near where you might have a grab handle,” Mueller said. “You need that to protect occupants’ heads from hitting the door trim of the vehicle or hitting outside objects, like a tree.”
Starting with 2017 Escape models, Ford reinforced the structure on the driver side to improve occupant protection in a small overlap front crash but didn’t make the same change to the passenger side, researchers noted. Escape earned an acceptable rating in the driver-side small overlap front test.
These disparities are why the researchers started to rate the passenger side, Mueller said. “Manufacturers shouldn’t shortchange protection for front-seat passengers.”
Ford spokeswoman Elizabeth Weigandt did not directly address the latest crash tests but said, “Safety continues to be one of the highest priorities in the design of our vehicles.”
She added, in an email, that “we are committed to designing and building vehicles that meet or exceed applicable laws and regulations across the globe, incorporating updates and new features into our lineup wherever possible.”
She noted the 2018 Escape has earned five-star New Car Assessment Program ratings in the U.S., Europe, China and Australia. “In all other IIHS crash test modes, the Escape has earned the highest rating of ‘good.’ ”
Escape is the second-biggest seller in the U.S. for Ford, based in Dearborn, Mich., behind F-Series pickups. It long has been a major player in the compact SUV category, now the largest vehicle segment in the U.S.
Both the Ford and Mitsubishi models are relatively old designs, Mueller said. But, “this is the first time we’ve seen the passenger curtain airbags not deploy in a passenger airbag side test. It’s very strange.”
Consumers bought 308,296 Ford Escapes in 2017, data that includes both 2017 and 2018 model years. The small SUV segment grew to 3.37 million vehicles in 2017, up from 3.15 million in 2016.
Analysts saw the Escape crash test results as significant.
“It’s incredibly alarming and disappointing and disconcerting, and wow,” said Rebecca Lindland, executive analyst for Kelley Blue Book.
The test results should be upsetting to Ford, she said. “This has to be addressed immediately. ... Carrying people safely, having them walk away from a crash, is paramount.”