1996 Mazda Protege

small car / 4-door sedan

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 1995-98 models

Tested vehicle: 1997 Mazda Protege LX 4-door

The Mazda Protege was redesigned for the 1995 model year.

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. The belt lengthened excessively, allowing the dummy's right knee to hit the ignition switch. During rebound, the dummy moved toward the driver door. Its head went through the open window and, as the dummy's head re-entered the vehicle, it hit the window frame.

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 that the driver's survival space was maintained reasonably well.

The dummy's right knee hit the ignition during the offset test. This can cause serious lacerations or increase crash forces on the leg.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CF97017
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 21
Left (cm) 28
Center (cm) 29
Right (cm) 19
Brake pedal (cm) 20
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 6
Right (cm) 2
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 9
Rearward (cm) -1
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 7

Driver injury measures

Test ID CF97017
Head
HIC-15 324
Peak gs at hard contact 9
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.6
Extension bending moment (Nm) 22
Maximum Nij 0.32
Chest maximum compression (mm) 30
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 3.3
Femur force - right (kN) 2.9
Knee displacement - left (mm) 9
Knee displacement - right (mm) 7
Maximum tibia index - left 0.75
Maximum tibia index - right 1.18
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 1.1
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 3.9
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 59
Right 124

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted