2011 Nissan Maxima

midsize car / 4-door sedan

2011 Nissan Maxima 4-door sedan
2009 Nissan Maxima shown

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Small overlap front: driver-side
Moderate overlap front: original test
Side: original test
Roof strength
Head restraints & seats

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.

Small overlap front: driver-side

Rating applies to 2009-14 models

Tested vehicle: 2012 Nissan Maxima 3.5 S 4-door

The Nissan Maxima was redesigned for the 2009 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Hip/thigh
Lower leg/foot
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics

Action shot taken during the small overlap frontal crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the door frame, steering wheel, and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was not maintained well.

The frontal and side curtain airbags worked reasonably well together to protect the head from injury in the crash test. Still, the curtain airbag should extend farther forward toward the A-pillar to protect the head from contact with forward side structure and outside objects if crash circumstances were to differ slightly.

Despite considerable intrusion into the driver footwell area, risk of injuries to the dummy's legs and feet was low.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CEN1230
Lower occupant compartment
Lower hinge pillar max (cm) 22
Footrest (cm) 13
Left toepan (cm) 9
Brake pedal (cm) 3
Parking brake (cm) 15
Rocker panel lateral average (cm) 5
Upper occupant compartment
Steering column 7
Upper hinge pillar max (cm) 14
Upper dash (cm) 17
Lower instrument panel (cm) 19

Driver injury measures

Test ID CEN1230
Head
HIC-15 65
Peak gs at hard contact no contact
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.0
Extension bending moment (Nm) 12
Maximum Nij 0.22
Chest maximum compression (mm) 23
Femur (kN)
Left 2.3
Right 0.2
Knee displacement (mm)
Left 3
Right 1
Knee-thigh-hip injury risk (%)
Left 0
Right 0
Maximum tibia index
Left 0.45
Right 0.28
Tibia axial force (kN)
Left 1.5
Right 1.2
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 56
Right 34

How the driver-side small overlap front test is conducted

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2009-14 models

Tested vehicle: 2009 Nissan Maxima 3.5 S 4-door

The Nissan Maxima was redesigned for the 2009 model year. Frontal ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Nissan as part of frontal crash test verification.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID VTF0805
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 4
Left (cm) 4
Center (cm) 5
Right (cm) 7
Brake pedal (cm) 3
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 0
Right (cm) -1
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) -5
Rearward (cm) -1
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 0

Driver injury measures

Test ID VTF0805
Head
HIC-15 482
Peak gs at hard contact 94
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.3
Extension bending moment (Nm) 20
Maximum Nij 0.28
Chest maximum compression (mm) 31
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 0.3
Femur force - right (kN) 4.3
Knee displacement - left (mm) 1
Knee displacement - right (mm) 8
Maximum tibia index - left 0.28
Maximum tibia index - right 0.59
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 2.1
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 1.1
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 55
Right 123

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted

Side: original test

Rating applies to 2009-14 models

Tested vehicle: 2009 Nissan Maxima 3.5 S 4-door with standard front and rear head curtain airbags and standard front seat-mounted torso airbags

The Nissan Maxima was redesigned for the 2009 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Driver head protection
Rear passenger injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Rear passenger head protection

View of the vehicle and barrier just after the crash test.

View of the vehicle after the crash with doors removed, showing the side airbags and damage to the occupant compartment.

The driver dummy's head was protected from being hit by hard structures by the side curtain airbag.

Smeared greasepaint shows where the rear passenger dummy’s head was protected by the side airbag.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CES0925
B-pillar to longitudinal centerline of driver's seat (cm) -10.0
Negative numbers indicate the amount by which the crush stopped short of the seat centerline.

Driver injury measures

Test ID CES0925
Head HIC-15 161
Neck
Tension (kN) 0.6
Compression (kN) 0.2
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 35
Lateral force (kN) 1.3
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 36
Average deflection (mm) 32
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 4.11
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.41
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 2.3
Acetabulum force (kN) 1.1
Combined force (kN) 2.3
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 1.2
L-M moment (Nm) 221
A-P moment (Nm) 64

Passenger injury measures

Test ID CES0925
Head HIC-15 109
Neck
Tension (kN) 0.4
Compression (kN) 0.2
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 31
Lateral force (kN) 1.3
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 27
Average deflection (mm) 20
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 4.09
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.21
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 0.7
Acetabulum force (kN) 1.6
Combined force (kN) 2.2
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 0.6
L-M moment (Nm) 107
A-P moment (Nm) 16

How the side crash test is conducted

Roof strength

Rating applies to 2009-14 models

Tested vehicle: 2009 Nissan Maxima 3.5 S 4-door

Overall evaluation
Curb weight 3,532 lbs
Peak force 12,103 lbs
Strength-to-weight ratio 3.43

How the roof strength test is conducted

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Power leather seats AHR

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type Power leather seats AHR
Geometry
Backset (mm) 32
Distance below top of head (mm) 32
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Fail
Max T1 acceleration (g) 10.5
Head contact time (ms) 81
Force rating 2
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 148
Max neck tension (N) 766

How the head restraint & seat test is conducted
Currently, IIHS tests apply only to front seats.