2016 Honda Pilot Passes Crash Test with Flying Colors

I’ve always been rather sad to see the IIHS crash test new cars and trucks. It’s one thing to watch them destroy a boring econobox; it’s another thing entirely to watch a Porsche or Ferrari get totaled in the interest of safety. Still, it’s something that must be done. One of the latest vehicles to roll through the IIHS for crash testing is the 2016 Honda Pilot.

Honda has shared a video of the all-new Pilot going through one of the toughest of the crash tests IIHS performs, the small overlap crash test. This test simulates the effects of a front-end collision that covers a small part of the front of the car.

For the test, the Pilot was accelerated to 40 mph and slammed into a crash barrier that weighs about 200,000 pounds. The test simulates a crash into an immovable object like a tree or barrier. Despite the carnage, the passenger compartment of the Pilot and its crash dummy occupant were virtually uncompromised, with just 4 inches of intrusion into cabin, and the dummy protected by an array of airbags.

The end result is that the 2016 Pilot qualifies for an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ rating. This represents a dramatic improvement from the previous generation model, which had earned a Poor rating in the same test.