IIHS Crash Test Rates New Toyota Corolla “Marginal”

The re-engineered 2014 Toyota Corolla sedan has earned a disappointing "marginal" rating in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's severe "small overlap" crash test.

The bad news comes less than 10 months after Toyota's popular Camry sedan and new Prius v hybrid wagon were rated "poor" in the same test.

IIHS notes that the Corolla has earned the institute's top ("good") rating for the past six years in the other four other types of crashes it tests: side, rear, rollover and moderate front overlap.

But starting in 2014, the institute won't grant any car its "Top Safety Pick" designation unless the vehicle earns an "acceptable" or "good" score on the small overlap test.

Current federal crash standards analyze a vehicle's ability to absorb a frontal impact across the entire front of the vehicle. IIHS's test shows what happens when the same energy must be absorbed by only 25% of the vehicle's crash structure.

The institute says its test, in which the left front quarter of the front end strikes a rigid barrier at 40 mph, simulates a common type of crash into a pole or corner of an oncoming car.

The new Corolla's structure did a poor job of maintaining the driver's survival space and increased the possibility of injury, according to the IIHS testers.