Five most-watched US crash tests of 2022

The peak body for new-car crash tests in the US has released a compilation of its most-watched videos from 2022.

In a video uploaded to YouTube by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the montage shows five short clips which the firm claims were the most-watched on its channel last year, though not every clip was released in the past 12 months.

One of the clips features a 2013 crash test of the Chevrolet Spark (previously sold in Australia as the Holden Barina Spark), which currently sits in fifth place on the channel’s most-watched videos of all time with more than 5.3 million views. 

The compilation also includes vision of the Ford Bronco (uploaded in December 2021, subsequently overtaken by a number of crash-test clips in 2022), as well as the Tesla Model Y posted on 22 December 2021, attracting 283,000 views.

You can watch the official IIHS top-five video here, or read below for our list of the five most-watched US crash tests uploaded last year.

MORE: Best and worst new-car safety tests for 2022

In December 2022, the Rivian R1T was named as a 'Top Safety Pick+' by the IIHS, becoming the first electric pick-up to earn the rating and one of only two US pick-ups to earn the award, joining the 2022 Toyota Tundra Crew Cab petrol-electric hybrid.

Since the video was uploaded on 17 December 2022, it has been watched almost 240,000 times, the most of any IIHS new vehicle crash test last year.

To find out whether its equipment could stand up to the challenge of increasingly heavy electric vehicles, the IIHS loaded an old Ford F-150 with extra weight and sent the 4100kg pick-up towards its full-frontal crash test wall.

The heaviest vehicle to be tested by the IIHS to date was able to reach the 64km/h threshold used for frontal barrier tests before impacting the wall, crumpling its nose while the extra weight in the load bed flew forward and crashed into the cabin.

As well as demonstrating its equipment can handle vehicles weighing more than 4000kg, the IIHS showed just why keeping a load secure is so important.

The second-generation Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86/GR86 twins also earned a ‘Top Safety Pick+’ from the IIHS, with the sports car’s strong performance highlighted by its driver-side small overlap crash test.

A video later uploaded to Facebook by the IIHS detailed how Subaru BRZ protected the driver’s feet despite the rearward movement of the front wheel, while its roof and head restraints also achieved good results.

After being subjected to the IIHS‘s driver-side small overlap twice since 2015, Jeep didn’t expect its Wrangler off-roader to roll over for a second time when it was tested last year.

In a repeat of its 2019 test using the same criteria, the revised Jeep Wrangler tipped over yet again, leading to a ‘marginal’ result from the IIHS as well as criticism from the general public in the YouTube video’s comment section.

While the 2019 video has amassed almost 1.25 million views, the novelty of watching an off-road icon roll over appears to have worn off, as last year’s clip has been watched little more than 150,000 times.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what being t-boned at almost 60km/h in a Subaru Outback looks like, almost 100,000 other internet users have apparently been wondering the same thing.

As opposed to the previous videos which mainly focused on the driver-side small overlap tests, the Subaru Outback proved to be the most-watched video of the IIHS’s side crash test, which shows a 1905kg SUV-height barrier being projected at 59.5km/h towards the test vehicle.

The impact managed to lift the driver’s side of the Outback off the ground, although its side and curtain airbags protected its occupants, leading to another 'Top Safety Pick+' from the IIHS.