The Forester is the only compact SUV to receive a “Good” rating from the IIHS, while the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 both rated as “Acceptable.” The Ford Escape, Hyundai Tucson, Jeep Compass earned “Marginal” ratings, while the Chevrolet Equinox, Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi Outlander, and Volkswagen Taos rated “Poor.”

As part of its ongoing efforts to improve vehicle safety, IIHS introduced the new vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention test to address the higher-speed crashes that occur at higher speeds and those in which the struck vehicle is a motorcycle or large truck.

The original vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention evaluation was developed when the technology was relatively new, so the performance requirements only addressed low-speed crashes. By the time the original evaluation, with test runs at 12 and 25 mph (19 km/h and 40 km/h, respectively), was discontinued at the end of 2022, all tested vehicles were earning the top rating of superior. While real-world data indicate that front crash prevention is eliminating higher-speed crashes, the original test didn’t provide a way to gauge the performance of specific systems at those higher speeds. Additional IIHS research also showed that today’s systems are less effective at preventing crashes with motorcycles and medium or heavy trucks than they are at preventing crashes with other passenger vehicles.

To address those issues, instead of the earlier 12 and 25 mph speeds, the updated test includes trials run at 31, 37 and 43 mph (50 km/h, 60 km/h, and 70 km/h). In addition to a passenger car target, the test examines performance with a motorcycle target and a semitrailer. As a result, the new evaluation reflects a substantially greater proportion of police-reported front-to-rear crashes, including many that are more severe.

In the new evaluation, multiple trials are conducted with a target representing a passenger car, a target representing a motorcycle and an actual dry van trailer. Tests are run at all three speeds with each vehicle type. The trials using targets evaluate both the forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems. In each test run, an IIHS engineer drives the test vehicle toward the target at the selected speed and records when the forward collision warning occurs and how much the AEB system slows the vehicle to prevent or mitigate the impending impact. If the test vehicle fails to achieve a minimum speed reduction at the slower test speeds, only the forward collision warning system is evaluated in the higher-speed tests. In all the test runs using the trailer, only the forward collision warning system is evaluated, and the driver steers out of the lane to avoid a crash.

Points are awarded for warnings that occur at least 2.1 seconds before the projected time of impact and for substantial speed reductions in the AEB tests. Speed reductions account for two-thirds and warnings account for one-third of the maximum possible score.

The Forester, equipped with the latest Eyesight 4.0 avoided a collision with the passenger car target at every test speed, avoided hitting the motorcycle target at 31 and 37 mph (50 km/h and 60 km/h), and slowed by an average of 30 mph (48 km/h) before hitting the motorcycle target in the 43 mph (70 km/h) tests. The forward collision warning alerts also came more than the required 2.1 seconds before the projected time of impact in all those trials and in those conducted with the trailer.

The acceptable-rated CR-V provided a timely forward collision warning alert and came to a stop or near stop in every trial with the passenger car target and in the 31 and 37 mph (50 km/h and 60 km/h) trials with the motorcycle target. However, it failed to slow consistently in the 43 mph (70 km/h) trials with the motorcycle target.

Even vehicles with a marginal rating in the new test demonstrate a higher level of performance than what was required for the highest rating in the original vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention evaluation.

For example, the Escape avoided hitting the passenger car and motorcycle targets at the 31 mph (50 km/h) test speed and slowed by a modest amount in the higher speed tests, regardless of where the targets were positioned. However, it lost several points because its forward collision warning came too late in all the 31 mph (50 km/h) tests.

The four poor-rated vehicles fell short in multiple test scenarios.

For example, the Equinox provided a timely forward collision warning in the tests with the trailer and passenger car target but either failed to give a warning or gave it too late in most tests with the motorcycle target. With the passenger car target, it slowed modestly in the 31 mph (50 km/h) tests, and with the motorcycle target it barely reduced speed at all.

The latest generation EyeSight 4.0, also found in the Crosstrek, Outback, and WRX, comes equipped with a redesigned stereo camera that features a much wider viewing angle, and combined with improved image recognition and processing software. All in all, it offers enhanced driver assist functions in a wider range of situations.