NHTSA Testing 1979-2010: Cars vs. Trucks, Vans, and SUVs

This is a chart of average HIC (head injury criterion) for cars and LTVs (a category encompassing pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs) for each testing year between 1979 and 2010. Before 1983, no LTVs were tested by NHTSA. Interesting trends emerge. A limited number of LTVs were tested each year during the early years; the number of LTVs tested increased as the market share and model range increased.

Performance for LTVs was bad in the 1980s and early 1990s. Due to the limited number (typically 12 or fewer) tested during these years, results vary wildly from year to year, but it is still clear that LTVs lagged their car counterparts badly. (1984 was a "fluke" year). Starting in 1992, the gap began to close, but LTVs still lagged by a noticeable - if not severe - margin through 2000. Around 2001, LTV HICs reached levels near that of cars.

 Chest G's here are pretty cut and dry - bad in the 1980s, pretty close to that of cars from 1994 on.

This is the most important chart - average injury risk. Note that this chart is not created by taking the average risk of each vehicle, but rather by taking the average HIC and Chest G for each model year and finding the risk for that. For instance, 1980 passengers in cars had an average HIC of 1,364 and chest G of 51. The risk of severe injury for that HIC and chest G is 51%.

Cars started at a bad level - about 50% risk for both driver and passenger - when testing began in 1979. When LTV testing started in 1983, their average risk was even worse than cars had been four years earlier. By 1983, with cars having improved dramatically from their starting point, the gap was even more critical. While passenger risk had a major drop, driver risk simply "bounced around" in the 40-77% range between 1983 and 1991. By 1991, the average LTV was no safer for a driver than a 1979 car in this collision scenario.
Risk for both occupants dropped precipitously for LTVs between 1992 and 1994, and by the mid 1990s LTV passengers had reached near parity with car passengers - drivers were still doing moderately worse. The gap finally closed around 2001.

It's clear that there was once a major safety gap between cars and LTVs, and this gap narrowed and eventually closed. A major reason is safety standards - safety standards were significantly relaxed on LTVs until the 1990s. It's clear that once LTVs had to meet the same safety standards as cars, their performance approached that of cars. The market share of LTVs grew immensely. In the 1980s, only about 20% of models tested were LTVs; by the 2000s, over half were. Minivans and crossover SUVs were introduced during this time period and became very popular, while traditional SUV popularity greatly increased. LTV marketing and purposes changed greatly between 1983 and 2010. In 1983, most LTVs were considered utilitarian vehicles that did not compete with cars. In the intervening years, minivans were introduced and cut into the market share for full size vans, SUVs added more creature comforts and were marketed as passenger vehicles, and the crossover SUV arose. By 2010, most LTVs were not strictly "utilitarian" vehicles. They competed with cars. The family sedan had, in many instances, been replaced by the family minivan or SUV. Even crew cab trucks became used by some like cars with extra utility.