1996 Ford Explorer

midsize SUV / 4-door SUV

1996 Ford Explorer 4-door SUV

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 1995-2001 models

Tested vehicle: 1996 Ford Explorer XLT 4-door 4wd

The Ford Explorer was redesigned for the 1995 model year and the Mercury Mountaineer was introduced in 1997.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Dummy movement wasn't well controlled. During the crash, the driver door opened. This opening significantly affected dummy movement during the test and shouldn't happen because, in some crashes, it could allow partial or complete occupant ejection. After the dummy moved suddenly toward the door, its head went outside the occupant compartment. Its neck tilted back excessively when the shoulder belt tightened across the base of the dummy's neck. As the dummy came back into the occupant compartment, its head hit the B-pillar.

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test indicates the driver's survival space was maintained reasonably well.

When the driver door opened, the dummy's head went outside the occupant compartment. The lap/shoulder belt prevented the dummy from being ejected.

The safety belt caught the dummy's neck when its head went out the open door.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CF95030
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 16
Left (cm) 22
Center (cm) 20
Right (cm) 18
Brake pedal (cm) 8
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 10
Right (cm) 9
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 5
Rearward (cm) 6
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 8

Driver injury measures

Test ID CF95030
Head
HIC-15 242
Peak gs at hard contact 65
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.5
Extension bending moment (Nm) 55
Maximum Nij 0.42
Chest maximum compression (mm) 29
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 3.7
Femur force - right (kN) 4.9
Knee displacement - left (mm) 0
Knee displacement - right (mm) 0
Maximum tibia index - left 0.56
Maximum tibia index - right 0.57
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 3.0
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 2.9
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 69
Right 71

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted