Honda Tweaks Minicar Bumper to Boost Crash Performance

Honda Motor Co. has modified the front bumper beams of its redesigned 2015 model Fit minicar to improve the car's performance in crash tests.

Honda also is retrofitting some 12,000 vehicles built during the 2015 model year before the company implemented the change in factory production. North American Fit models are supplied from Honda's new assembly plant in Celaya, Mexico.

The previous-generation 2099-2013 Fit received a "poor" rating in the harsh small-overlap test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The crash test focuses on possible damage to the passenger compartment when the front corner of a vehicle strikes a fixed object.

The 2015 model Fit received a "marginal" rating in the same test. But IIHS said on Thursday the modified car's score improved to "acceptable."

That result, combined with "good" ratings in three other types of crash tests, earned the car IIHS's coveted "top safety pick" award. Honda says more of its models are top-rated by IIHS than any other carmaker.