In late December, there was a lot of news about the InsuranceInstitute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) list of the safest motor vehicles for 2015. The list wasimpressive—71 vehicles—even though the Chrysler 200 was the onlyU.S. car on the Top Safety Pick+ list.

Focusing on real-world situations, IIHS has been encouragingauto makers to improve results in small overlap front crashes toachieve better safety ratings. A “small overlap front collision” isone in which a vehicle hits a stationary object or another vehicle,but not head on. A vehicle may hit a utility pole, for example,with the headlight taking the brunt of the impact, or two vehiclesmight have a frontal crash but only the left front of each carcollides. The body of the car may crumple, depending on the speedat which the car was traveling and the angle of impact. In thesecases, it's not unusual to find parts of the vehicle pushed intothe passenger compartment.

Since the small overlap test program began in 2012, IIHSresearchers identified three main strategies for improving occupantprotection in small overlap front crash tests:

• Strengthen the occupant compartment
• Add new structures to engage the barrier
• Create an additional load path for crash forces