One Car's Trip Through The IIHS Small-Front Overlap Test
The car accident, for all intents and purposes, ends in less time than it takes to blink an eye.
Twice a week researchers here conduct some of the most advanced crash testing of new vehicles in America.In 300 milliseconds, forward momentum has stopped. Airbags have deployed. Occupants have already been cushioned by them, and started reversing course toward their seats. After colliding with a gray slab of steel, the entire left front-quarter of the Nissan Juke has sheared backward. From the side, its turquoise paint makes it look like a flash-frozen ocean wave.
A crew descends upon the wounded Juke and begins cleaning up an assortment of fluids leaking from its underbelly. An acrid smell reminiscent of gunpowder lingers in the air. Shards of plastic and glass are scattered like confetti after a ticker-tape parade.
Twice a week, this is the scene at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety where, inside a building that resembles an empty warehouse in the middle of dairy country in rural Virginia, researchers conduct some of the most advanced crash testing of new vehicles in America. Of all the crash tests conducted here in the Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville, the one the Juke underwent last month is perhaps the most important for everyday motorists.
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