Pontiac and the IIHS haven’t exactly gotten along very well over the years. Not only has IIHS been a bit unwilling to review Pontiac exclusives like the Solstice, but they’ve also held out on the exclusive-to-America G8.
Well, after doing some digging, we have some results. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety posted rear crash ratings for the G8 on their Pontiac rear crash page.
Unfortunately, these don’t give the whole picture. The IIHS considers very few cars to be good or even acceptable in a rear-end collision. They have been a bit more liberal in their ratings for SUVs, but that’s understandable considering the design of an SUV.
The real problem is that this could leave a bad picture in the mind of people looking for a G8. Not that GM cares really, since they’re a rare breed. But, since the G8 is in every way safer than a G6, and the G6 does in the end get a Good front and Acceptable side impact rating… you can rest assured knowing you’re not less safe in a G8.
On a side note, I can see why the IIHS would only do rear impact tests. Each test requires killing a G8. There are only 80,000 G8’s in America. That means paying a lot of money to crash-test a limited car (that never really got a chance to sell in a good economy, but anyways…). Insurance companies care a lot more about rear-impact tests, because they cause more injuries (whiplash, etc) and insurers are more defensive about them in general.
It would have been nice though to see the G8 shine in the side-impact tests. Just the added sheet metal versus a G6 could have given it a Good rating.