Bad crash test scores sink 3 Toyota vehicles

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

Consumer Reports has dumped three of Toyota's best-known important models from its "recommended" list because of bad crash test scores.

The Camry, RAV4 and the Prius V all lost CR "recommended" status after scoring "poor" in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's new tough narrow-offset front crash test. The score also dropped the Audi A4 off CR's list. The "poor" score in the test equates with a strong likelihood of severe or life-threatening injury.

Word that the three Toyotas were off the much-watched CR list came the same day Toyota overall was being lauded by CR for its lineup's reliability. Ten of the highest-scoring models for predicted reliability were Toyotas, and the brand rated second overall.

The IIHS narrow-offset crash test that doomed the three models simulates a car hitting a pole or another vehicle with 25% of the front area on the driver side. IIHS says the test reflects many real-world accidents.

CR says it tried to be fair before taking the models off the "recommended" list. When IIHS first began doing the test last year, many models failed, but now there are only a handful, says Jake Fisher, who heads CR's auto testing. "Every other family sedan has done better" than Camry, he says.

Toyota is making improvements to the Camry, and it is likely to be retested soon, so it has fair shot to regain "recommended" status.

The test has tripped up a number of automakers because unlike front, rear and rollover crash tests, they haven't had many years to design cars to specifically pass it.

"This is a tricky situation because when Consumer Reports pulls its recommendation it gives the appearance that these models are suddenly 'less safe' than they used to be. That's not true at all," says Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. "What the new IIHS test has uncovered is the next area for automakers to focus on based on crash test statistics."