FIAT 500

The passenger compartment of the 500 remained stable in the frontal offset test.  Dummy readings indicated good protection of the knees and femurs for both the driver and the passenger.  FIAT showed that a similar level of protection would be provided to occupants of different sizes and to those sat in different positions.  In the full-width rigid barrier test, the head of the driver dummy exceeded critical limits for deceleration.  As a result, no points were scored for the driver dummy even protection of the chest was adequate, and that of the knees and femurs was good.  Likewise for the rear passenger dummy: poor protection of the head resulted in all points being lost.  However, in this case the chest would not have scored points anyway, owing to excessive shoulder belt force, and the abdomen lost all points owing to a phenomenon known as 'submarining', in which the dummy slips under the lap portion of the belt.  In contrast to its performance in the full-width test, the 500 scored maximum points both in the side barrier test and the more severe side pole impact, with good protection of all critical body regions.  Tests on the front seats and head restraints demonstrated good protection against whiplash injuries in the event of a rear-end collision.  A geometric assessment of the rear seats indicated marginal whiplash protection.  The 500 does not have an autonomous emergency braking system.