Small cars do poorly in bumper tests

[Thirty-Nine]

The IIHS has given the Yaris (and five other subcompacts) "poor" ratings with regards to its front and rear bumper performance.

http://www.subcompactculture.com/2009/06/iihs-says-small-call-bumpers-are.html

[Morgan]

well since most of my front end is a bumper, doesnt really surprise me at all... larger trucks/cars/suvs have a small section of the front that is "bumper" so its really not shocking that they have less damage than our cars

[rningonfumes]

Your title has a typo? "calls" should be "car's?" or "car?"

IIHS says small call bumpers are expensive to fix

[MUSKOKA800]

Judging by the photo of the damaged Fit I suspect the test ram (or vehicle) had a bumper higher than that of the Fit. Not sure you could blame the bumper failing to protect against a much taller vehicle, eg. full size SUV, Pick-up, etc.

[Thirty-Nine]

Your title has a typo? "calls" should be "car's?" or "car?"

DOH! Thanks ... and fixed.

Judging by the photo of the damaged Fit I suspect the test ram (or vehicle) had a bumper higher than that of the Fit. Not sure you could blame the bumper failing to protect against a much taller vehicle, eg. full size SUV, Pick-up, etc.

Here's a link to the video of how they performed the test:

http://www.iihs.org/video.aspx/releases/pr061109

[nemelek]

I got rear ended by a car with the same bumper height at 1 mph. No damage wat so ever.

[Lafiro]

Same there at like 5mph. Some dumb girl came at me at a red light, and came to a sudden stop skidding her tires, just hit me. As I saw it was happening, I let go of the brakes and let her force just push me forward instead of allowing the frame of the car to eat the impact completely.

In the end, I had two small dents in my bumper, which are now fixed, and her car had a bent hood, had its bumper on the floor, and a broken headlight.

Obviously this was NOT my fault, so I cursed the person out, until I found out it was a girl, and I said this is your fault, and my car is fine, so I left.

[IllusionX]

what the heck... all cars in US must comply to the 4mph law. (it is 8kmh or 4.9mph in Canada)

There is no worse bumper than other cars that are available in North America.