Toyota RAV4 fails “overlap” crash test.

USA Today (7/11, Healey, Meier, 1.71M) reports that Toyota’s redesigned RAV4 small SUV got a “poor” ranking in what the IIHS calls the “front small overlap” test. However, “it scored ‘good’ – IIHS’ top ranking – in the four other types of crash tests, and earned a Top Safety Pick designation from the insurance industry trade organization.” USA Today notes that “IIHS says it was testing small SUVs earlier this year and Toyota asked it to temporarily exclude the new RAV” because the automakers “said it was making some changes to RAV4s built after April that it thought would improve the vehicle’s performance in the offset test.”

        The New York Times (7/11, Jensen, 1.68M) reports the Poor rating was due to “a combination of poor structure and inadequate control of the test dummy’s movement.”