Electric vehicle safety has been put to the test in a new range of safety trials by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The results from IIHS, published earlier this month, showed that the seven electric vehicles tested for safety were found to provide both high-quality protection for the driver and decent protection for rear passengers, with some differentials appearing across the vehicles for the latter.
The 2025 BMW i4, Chevrolet Blazer EV, Ford F-150 Lightning, Nissan Ariya, Tesla Cybertruck, Tesla Model 3 and Volkswagen ID.Buzz were the vehicles selected for the series of tests.
The IIHS, an independent non-profit organisation, found that the i4, Blazer EV, Cybertruck and ID.Buzz all earned a top rating of “good” when it came to rear passenger protection, while the Ford F-150 Lightning and Nissan Ariya were the worst performing and scored a rating of “poor”.
This comes shortly after concerns were raised by both China and the United States about the safety of retractable Tesla door handles.
The handles could be banned in China as soon as 2027, with a draft of the new national standard for car door handle safety published this week, which could see Tesla having to redesign all of its door release systems.
Feedback is expected on the draft towards the end of November.
Additionally, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened its own investigation into Tesla Model Y door safety recently, looking into 174,000 Model Y's from the 2021 model year due to reports that the handles can become inoperative.
The Model Y remains the best-selling electric vehicle in both Australia and the U.S., according to mid-year findings.
