The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has announced the crash test results for the 2021 Ford Bronco, but unfortunately it did not do well. The IIHS says that its head restraints do not provide good protection against whiplash injuries and its headlights provide inadequate illumination on curves.
To be eligible for the Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards, a vehicle must earn good ratings in six IIHS crashworthiness evaluations, including the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength and head restraint tests. It must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations.
The Bronco earned good ratings for five out of six crashworthiness tests. But, it earned a lower rating of acceptable in the head restraint test because the neck of the test dummy was subject to moderate force in a simulated rear-end crash.
The Bronco’s two available crash prevention systems met the award criteria with superior and advanced ratings in the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests. Unfortunately the Bronco’s two available headlights do not get either a good or acceptable rating, since the IIHS found that the low beams do not illuminate the road to a far enough distance on curves.