# What car is safer for frontal crashes? 2012 Ford Fusion or 2002 Ford Taurus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Safety\ **Created:** [January 12, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153 "2024-01-12T20:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153/1 "2024-01-12T20:52:16Z")
I’ll add my opinion afterward. 🙂 🙂 🙂 – NOW I HAVE EDITED IT IN! – _Poll ([view on site](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153/1))_ 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 🙂 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: [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/1/a/1ab8aff9d131e0fe01bfef0da018aa04a6307bb1.jpeg "Ford fusion pole crash test iihs 40 miles per hour") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8L5NA-jYCo) 2001 Ford Taurus 40MPH small overlap pole test video: [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/2/8/2868c9586a425b89be790f8784cd588008eaf75c.jpeg "2001 Ford Taurus IIHS Narrow Pole Crash Test") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR3sRAD64zs) This crash test would simulate a head on collision with two vehicles going 28 MPH. NHTSA 2010 Ford Fusion 20% overlap, 7 degrees, 56MPH: [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/5/5/554e690ec69ab55f3c5b70521cfacdf43e2436f6.jpeg "2007-2012 Ford Fusion / Mercury Milan NHTSA Oblique Overlap Crash Test (7° / 20% Overlap)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLGDKp8eRtQ) 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. [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/a/6/a61804d74b98bfdba064af05ef28fed29ff9fc52.jpeg "2000-2007 Ford Taurus / Mercury Sable NHTSA Oblique Overlap Crash Test (15° / 18% Overlap)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9gdDf7ZRIg) 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. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153/2 "2024-01-12T20:57:40Z")
I’m not voting and I don’t care what you think on this subject. ---
**Author:** ![PvtPublic](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/pvtpublic/32/13089_2.png) [@PvtPublic](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PvtPublic)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153/3 "2024-01-12T21:41:34Z")
Count me as another that doesn’t even want you opinion. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153/4 "2024-01-13T00:16:20Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153/5 "2024-01-13T00:47:21Z")
The only safe option is not to have a crash. ---
**Author:** ![davesmopar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/davesmopar/32/41750_2.png) [@davesmopar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/davesmopar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153/6 "2024-01-13T01:26:24Z")
You really need a new hobby, like building ships in bottles or something that doesn’t effect or people… 🤦‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153/7 "2024-01-13T23:15:32Z")
> [@davesmopar](#): > > You really need a new hobby, like building ships in bottles or something that doesn’t effect or people… I guess people didn’t like **[Ralph Nader](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Ralph_Nader)** or Unsafe At Any Speed either. > [@cigroller](#): > > The only safe option is not to have a crash. 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. [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/d/3/d32b3a013b213573cc4d2513cb075b9a20d2b58d.jpeg "Crashtest Subaru SVX small overlap") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT5PD1stTO0) ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 11:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/what-car-is-safer-for-frontal-crashes-2012-ford-fusion-or-2002-ford-taurus/194153/8 "2024-01-14T23:47:10Z")
There was just another vote for the Fusion. I guess the new is always better propaganda has worked well.