2005 Audi A6 and 2006 Infiniti M35 earn good crash results

Two large luxury cars recently earned top ratings in both front and side impact crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The 2005 Audi A6 earned good ratings and “best pick” designations for its performance in both tests, making the A6 a “double best pick.” The 2006 Infiniti M35 also earned good ratings in both tests and a “best pick” for crashworthiness in front but not side crashes.Audi and Infiniti requested the front and side tests of these cars. “Audi and Infiniti are ahead of many of their competitors in side impact protection,” Institute chief operating officer Adrian Lund says. “They engineered the new models to do well in both of the Institute’s tests and they want to get the results out more quickly to demonstrate to buyers their cars’ state-of-the-art crashworthiness. The A6’s ‘double best pick’ performance, especially, is the kind we hope to see every time we test a vehicle.”In the latest frontal test, the redesigned A6 proved better than its predecessor. When the Institute tested the 1999 model A6, its overall performance in the frontal test was acceptable. Intrusion into the driver’s footwell contributed to the possibility of injury to both legs. In contrast, intrusion in the new A6 was minimal. Forces on the left leg indicated the possibility of injury, but otherwise all performance measures were good. Lund says findings on the A6 indicated that all measures of injury likelihood in the side impact were low. The structural performance, she adds, was good and so was head protection.The A6 is one of an increasing number of cars with standard front and rear curtain-style side airbags designed to protect occupants’ heads. Seat-mounted side airbags designed to protect the chest and abdomen also are standard in the front and optional in the rear. In the Institute’s side impact test, the heads of the dummies in the front and rear seats were protected from hitting any hard structures, including the test barrier.This M35’s overall performances in the front and side crash tests were good. Injury measures generally were low. The M35 has standard side airbags designed to protect the torsos of front-seat occupants. However, in the side impact test injury measures recorded on the driver dummy indicated the possibility that a person could sustain torso injuries in a real-world crash of similar severity. Plus the structural performance of the M35 was acceptable, not good. These two results kept the M35 from earning a “best pick” in the side impact test.Other large luxury cars aren’t scheduled for testing until later.”The Institute’s side impact test mimics a real-world crash in which a pickup or SUV runs a red light or stop sign and strikes a vehicle in the side,” Lund adds. “It’s a challenging test because the top of the side impact barrier, like the hood of an SUV or pickup, is at the same level as the heads of the test dummies in the car.”Along with another Audi, the A4, the A6 is one of four vehicles that have earned the designation of “double best pick” for exceptional performances in both front and side tests. The other two are the Saab 9-3 and the Toyota RAV4 with optional side airbags. Regarding side impact performances, Lund says “Automakers are responding very rapidly by designing their new models and redesigning their old ones to earn better ratings in the side test. This is a severe test, so it’s to the automakers’ credit that they’re improving their vehicles so quickly.”