Four of 11 small SUVs got top marks in a new study evaluating their pedestrian crash avoidance systems.
Five others got advanced ratings.
But one, the 2018-19 BMW X1, which comes with the German automaker's so-called Daytime Pedestrian Detection system, either didn't brake at all, sending crash test dummies "airborne," or did not slow fast enough to avoid hitting the dummies, according to a news release about the study.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety test results, announced Thursday, highlighted the achievements of the 2018-19 Honda CRV, 2019 Subaru Forester, 2019 Toyota RAV4 and the 2019 Volvo XC40 in securing the top, or superior, rating.
And it showcased those SUVs that managed the second-best, or advanced, rating, the 2019 Chevrolet Equinox, 2018-19 Hyundai Kona, 2019 Kia Sportage, 2018-19 Mazda CX-5 and 2019 Nissan Rogue.
But the study, with its inclusion of the X1, also demonstrated the apparent challenge for automakers as they grapple with a dramatic public health crisis _ the thousands of pedestrian deaths every year in the United States.
A Detroit Free Press/USA TODAY Network investigation last year found that America's love for SUVs, which have exploded in popularity, was a "key, leading cause of escalating pedestrian deaths nationwide," with those numbers up 46 percent since 2009. Federal regulators have known for years that pedestrians are at least two to three times more likely to die when struck by an SUV or truck than by a passenger car.
In releasing its findings, the insurance institute said automatic emergency braking systems able to "detect and brake for pedestrians are one important countermeasure to address the problem."
Automatic emergency braking
U.S. Department of Transportation researchers have noted that pedestrian crash avoidance/mitigation systems could cut the number of fatal vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes by up to 810 per year. The insurance institute pointed to a 2018 Highway Loss Data Institute analysis, which found that "Subaru's EyeSight system with pedestrian detection cut the rate of likely pedestrian-related insurance claims by 35 percent, compared with the same vehicles without the system."
Automatic emergency braking, not necessarily with specific pedestrian-detection features, has been growing as a vehicle feature, and most automakers have committed to installing low-speed emergency braking systems by 2022. It is, however, far from being a universal feature.
The insurance institute noted that pedestrian detection features are standard on the Forester, RAV4, Rogue, X1 and XC40. The SUVs that were selected for the test all at least have the technology available.
David Aylor, the institute's manager of active safety testing, explained the goal of the study.
"We want to encourage manufacturers to include pedestrian detection capabilities as they equip more of their vehicles with automatic emergency braking systems. We also want to arm consumers with information about these systems so they can make smart choices when shopping for a new vehicle," Aylor said in the news release.
Pedestrian detection systems typically use various cameras and sensors near the rearview mirror or in the grille to monitor for pedestrians. If a collision is imminent, the system alerts the driver and can brake faster than a person can typically react, the institute noted.
"The best possible outcome is to avoid hitting a pedestrian altogether," Aylor said in the release. "When a crash is unavoidable, sharply reducing a vehicle's travel speed would give someone on foot a far greater chance of surviving any injuries in a similar real-world encounter with a passenger vehicle."
The superior- and advanced-rated SUVs had "significant speed reductions in every test scenario." In some cases, they avoided hitting pedestrian dummies, the release said.
Hidden child test
Aylor said the tests involve three scenarios, including a pedestrian on the side of the road and an adult crossing the street, with two speeds in each. The ratings are determined after multiple runs at the institute's testing facility in Ruckersville, Virginia, to ensure the results are consistent.
One test, described as the most challenging, was called the perpendicular child scenario. It used a dummy the size of an average 7-year-old hidden by a car and an SUV parked on the side of the road. When the test vehicles were 1.5 seconds away, the child test dummy entered the travel lane.
The Forester and RAV4 avoided hitting dummies in each test, and the XC40 avoided hitting the child-size dummy in the lower speed test as well as adult-size dummies in a couple of tests. The CR-V struck the child-size dummy, but reduced its speed by a "significant amount," Aylor said.
If a vehicle can reduce its speed enough in a real-world setting, Aylor said, the severity of any injuries caused during a crash are likely to drop.
As noted in the Free Press/USA TODAY Network investigation, speed can clearly kill. A 1995 study found that 85 percent of pedestrians struck by a vehicle traveling at 40 mph will die. At 20 mph, the percentage is 5.
Small SUV pedestrian crash prevention ratings
Superior
2018-19 Honda CR-V
2019 Subaru Forrester
2019 Toyota RAV4
2019 Volvo XC40
Advanced
2019 Chevrolet Equinox
2018-19 Hyundai Kona
2019 Kia Sportage
2018-19 Mazda CX-5
2019 Nissan Rogue
Basic
2019 Mitsubishi Outlander
No credit
2018-19 BMW X1
