This 2008 Honda Accord was t-boned by a 2005 Chevy Impala on April 22, 2013. The driving force, my mother, walked away with solely two bruises.
Full disclosure: I drive a 2011 Honda Accord sedan, so this put up applies to my very own automobile.
In the present day (September 12, 2022) marks the fifteenth anniversary of the discharge of the 2008 Honda Accord. The eighth technology of the venerable midsize automobile broke new floor in security for its class. When it went on sale, it was the one non-luxury midsize sedan that was an IIHS Prime Security Choose in its base-model configuration (the coupe wasn’t examined by IIHS). The Subaru Legacy, the one different midsize sedan that earned the Prime Security Choose ranking, did not earn it except you ordered the non-obligatory digital stability management. It was additionally the one midsize sedan on sale on the time the place the dummies got here away utterly unscathed in all three IIHS exams (entrance offset, aspect affect, and rear), as in all damage measurements have been rated “good”.
Over on the NHTSA aspect of issues, the report was equally glowing. The Accord earned the total 5 stars for each driver and passenger within the 35-mph frontal affect check. The common 2008-model car examined had a driver HIC of 432, with 43 chest G’s, and a passenger HIC of 486, with 43 chest G’s; these pressure ranges are already fairly low, being close to the boundary of a 4 and 5 star ranking. The Accord? 221 HIC and 34 chest G’s for the motive force, 258 HIC and 35 chest G’s for the passenger. In reality, the motive force dummy within the 2008 Accord had the bottom HIC of the drivers of all 47 automobiles examined that yr. Facet-impact and rollover resistance scores additionally ended up at 5-stars.
Even when NHTSA and IIHS toughened up their crash check requirements in later years, the Accord continued to do properly. The 2011 Accord was the primary to make a clear sweep of five-star scores (5-star entrance, 5-star aspect, 5-star aspect pole and 5-star rollover) within the new, more durable NHTSA check routine launched that yr. And when IIHS launched a roof-strength check in 2009, the Accord acquired a high-end Acceptable ranking – its roof nonetheless being over 2 1/2 instances as sturdy because the federal commonplace required. With the Accord’s above-average rollover resistance, in actuality it presents rollover safety equal to that of many Good-rated automobiles. Nonetheless, Honda upgraded the roof on 2012 fashions to earn a Good ranking on this check too, an honorable transfer provided that the redesigned 2013 Accord was only a yr away (that physique type is due for a Surprisingly Protected put up of its personal).
It ought to be no shock that the Accord’s dying price in real-world crashes was 35% decrease than the common midsize sedan of its period.
See the inexperienced dot (driver) and purple dot (passenger)? That is how far contained in the 5-star vary the Accord’s damage measures ended up after a 35-mph full frontal crash check.
