What frontal crash test, introduced by the IIHS in 2012, strikes only 25 percent of a car's front width to simulate hitting a pole or tree?

The IIHS frontal crash test introduced in 2012 that strikes only 25 percent of a car’s front width is the small overlap front crash test.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released its first results on August 14, 2012. Unlike the earlier moderate-overlap test, which engages about 40 percent of the vehicle’s front with a deformable barrier, the small-overlap test sends the vehicle’s outer front corner into a rigid, rounded barrier at about 40 mph.

That location matters because the impact can miss the main longitudinal crash-absorbing structures. The wheel, suspension, and firewall area may receive severe forces, while the vehicle can move sideways and the occupant’s head or torso can move toward the striking object. Single-vehicle collisions with poles or trees are a major real-world example.

A common mix-up is calling this a full frontal or ordinary offset test. It is specifically a small-overlap test, and the IIHS later expanded it to include passenger-side evaluations in 2015.