Temple of VTEC Rumors and News - 2002 Honda CR-V Earns 'Best Pick' Rating in IIHS Crash Test

Top Performance for CR-V adds to NHTSA five star rating for all passengers

Torrance, Calif. 07/16/2002 -- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) ranks the 2002 Honda CR-V as a "Best Pick" among small SUVs in recently completed frontal offset crash tests.

Overall, the CR-V received a "good" designation, the highest achievable score from the IIHS. The CR-V was the only small SUV tested to achieve "good" ratings across the board in all of the safety-related sub-categories of the frontal offset crash evaluation:

Structure/Safety Cage: "Good"
Injury Measures (Head/Neck, Chest, Leg and Feet - Left/Right): "Good"
Restraints/Dummy Kinematics: "Good"

Conducted since 1995, the demanding IIHS offset tests involve 40 percent of a vehicle's front end hitting a deformable barrier at 40 mph. A "good" score indicates that the vehicle's front-end structure absorbs and manages the crash energy so the occupant compartment remains largely intact, with little or no intrusion into the driver's space and a person's movement during a crash is likely to be well controlled, and injury likelihood is reduced.

The 2002 Honda CR-V also earned the federal government's top rating of Five Stars in all frontal and side impact tests for all passengers (with or without available side airbags) according to testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as a part of its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP).

The CR-V was completely re-designed for the 2002 model year. The structural systems on the 2002 CR-V work together to provide "all-around protection" to efficiently absorb the energy of an impact. Extensive use of high tensile strength steel creates a "smart linked" unit body structure featuring multi-directional cross members. These cross members act to redirect impact forces away from the passenger cabin. In a frontal impact, the energy is divided between the parallel side frame and sub-frame. In a side collision, the floor, middle floor and rear cross members absorb most of the impact energy, helping to prevent B-pillar deformation.

For more information regarding the IIHS tests, visit the IIHS web site at http://www.highwaysafety.org. For more information regarding the NHTSA tests, visit http://www.nhtsa.org. Consumer information regarding Honda products is available at http://www.honda.com