Dec. 9, 2019—The redesigned 2020 Ford Explorer, a midsize SUV, offers better protection in the driver-side small overlap front test than earlier models, but hasn't improved enough to qualify for a 2019 safety award, per a report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
In the driver-side small overlap test of the Explorer, the structure held up well overall — an improvement over the severe intrusion seen in the Explorer prior to the redesign.
According to the report, in the test of the new model, there was enough intrusion into the outboard part of the footwell to elevate the risk of injury to the driver's left leg, as indicated by measures taken from the dummy, resulting in an overall rating of acceptable.
The 2020 Explorer and Aviator are both equipped with a standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system that scores a superior rating in Institute tests. The SUVs are also available with a second, optional system that also rates superior. Both systems prevented collisions in 12 and 25 mph tests.
