What car is safer for frontal crashes? 2012 Ford Fusion or 2002 Ford Taurus?

Safety
1

I’ll add my opinion afterward. :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: – NOW I HAVE EDITED IT IN! –

For frontal crashes, which do you think is safer?
  • The 2000-2007 Taurus is safer
  • The 2007-2012 Fusion is safer
  • I don’t want to vote
0 voters

I’m editing in my answer now and putting in the crash test videos.
Currently the vote is 4 for Fusion / 0 for Taurus / 1 for don’t want to vote and I didn’t vote. I believe votes can be changed :slight_smile:

The 2012 Fusion was skipped for the IIHS small overlap test. They only tested the redesigned 2013.

The Ford Fusion and Ford Taurus are a rare case where both were crash tested by the IIHS with their experimental small overlap pole test or “narrow pole crash test”. I don’t know if dummy data is available. I think IIHS may have taken all of this off of their website, but the videos are still on youtube.

It appears that the 2007-2012 Fusion didn’t do so well. It looks like rocker panel structure tore away from the floor pan and the pole ended inside the car touching the front left corner of the driver seat after the test. It looks like the pole may have been caught on the inside of the upper fender support, after in broke through the plastic upper radiator support.

With the newer cars having the front corners so much farther back it probably helps for fuel economy. But it also means the upper fender support is farther back. With that and the upper radiator support being all plastic, there is less crash structure up front for a small overlap crash. In the Taurus crash, you can see how the heavy upper fender and radiator support slows and pushes the car away from the pole before it reaches the windshield. I also remember looking at a rusted 1999 Taurus and noticing how thick the curved metal behind the front wheels is, and how long that part would take to rust. Well that thick metal is there for good reason.

2008 Fusion 40MPH small overlap pole test video:

2001 Ford Taurus 40MPH small overlap pole test video:

This crash test would simulate a head on collision with two vehicles going 28 MPH.
NHTSA 2010 Ford Fusion 20% overlap, 7 degrees, 56MPH:

This crash test would simulate a head on collision with both vehicles going 34 MPH. Edit: this is 18% overlap, not 50% like I previously wrote.
NHTSA 2001 Ford Taurus 18% overlap 15 degrees 68 MPH.

The Fusion may be a little stronger with 5cm less footwell intrusion compared to the Taurus on the IIHS moderate overlap test, a test that was created before both cars were designed. But the Fusion is a big failure with the small overlap pole test.

Although over all new cars are safer than old cars, there are some cases where well designed old cars are actually safer than new cars.

2

I’m not voting and I don’t care what you think on this subject.

3 Likes
3

Count me as another that doesn’t even want you opinion.

2 Likes
4

Remember from years ago , we had a dispute among our r&d scientists.

scientist: I vote we do this!
Manager: This isn’t a democracy, we don’t vote!

lol

5

The only safe option is not to have a crash.

6

You really need a new hobby, like building ships in bottles or something that doesn’t effect or people… :man_facepalming:

1 Like
7

I guess people didn’t like Ralph Nader or Unsafe At Any Speed either.

And the way to do this is to not drive.

Subaru SVX doesn’t seem to do so badly on the small overlap, and it’s from the early 90s. There might be footwell intrusion that we can’t see though.

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There was just another vote for the Fusion. I guess the new is always better propaganda has worked well.