Just yesterday, Nissan announced that it’s replacing passenger seat restraints in some 2021 Rogue SUVs after low front passenger crash test results from the government. Today, we learn that a Rogue that has not received the fix has won the highest safety rating from an independent safety group.
Confused? Us, too. We can explain a little.
There are two separate laboratories that crash-test cars in the U.S. The federal government runs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s New Car Assessment Program, which performs one slate of tests. A lab funded by a consortium of insurance companies, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, performs a separate slate. The two test regimens differ, so results from one lab aren’t necessarily comparable to the other’s.
In January, the NHTSA tested the Rogue. It awarded the car four (of a possible five) stars overall, including four for protecting the driver. But the Rogue earned only two for protecting the front seat passenger in a front-end collision. Two-star ratings are quite rare as safety technology has improved across the industry in recent years.
In response, Nissan redesigned the restraint system for the front passenger, and immediately began building the new Rogue with the improved restraints. It also announced plans to retrofit 2021 Rogues already sold with the new design.
IIHS Gives Top Rating to Rogue
Yesterday, the IIHS released its test results for the 2021 Rogue. The IIHS found no problem with it, awarding it the Institute’s top honor – the Top Safety Pick + award. That rating goes to vehicles that achieve a score of “good” (on a good/acceptable/marginal/poor scale) in every crash test and carry a suite of standard safety features.
What’s more, Nissan says the tests were performed using a 2021 Rogue with the old restraint system – the same one that earned two stars in government testing.
What explains the different outcomes? No one seems precisely sure. The tests are quite different. The government’s test simulates a direct head-on collision between two vehicles of similar size. The institute’s several frontal tests simulate collisions where the two cars meet off-center. Each laboratory also measures injuries to crash test dummies using different methods.
Still, IIHS can’t quite understand the disparity itself. Spokesperson Joe Young says, “I don’t know what led to NHTSA downgrading the passenger rating, but I can say that we didn’t observe any deficiencies in the passenger-side small overlap front test,” which would be the test most likely to reveal a flaw in passenger seat restraint design.
The matter is somewhat academic now, as Nissan is replacing the restraints in the few affected Rogues.
