Top Safety Pick

2009 Acura TL

midsize luxury car / 4-door sedan

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Evaluation criteria	Rating
Small overlap front: driver-side
Moderate overlap front: original test
Side: original test
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 Acura TL 4-door

The Acura TL was redesigned for the 2009 model year. Two tests of the TL were conducted because the onboard (car interior) cameras failed during the first test. As a result, the restraints and dummy kinematics rating is based primarily on the second test although camera views from outside the car suggest that there were very similar results in the first test. Injury and structural ratings are based on both tests.

Evaluation criteria	Rating

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 second of two small overlap frontal crash tests.

The dummy's position in relation to the door frame, steering wheel, and instrument panel after the second crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained reasonably well (intrusion pattern in first test appeared very similar).

The frontal and side curtain airbags worked well together to keep the head from coming close to any stiff structure or outside objects that could cause injury.

Except for door hinge pillar deformation, intrusion into the driver's space was reasonably well controlled, and risk of injuries to the dummy's legs and feet was low (second test shown).

Technical measurements for this test

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CEN1201	CEN1214
Lower occupant compartment
Lower hinge pillar max (cm)	15	20
Footrest (cm)	11	6
Left toepan (cm)	2	2
Brake pedal (cm)	4	5
Parking brake (cm)	0	0
Rocker panel lateral average (cm)	5	2
Upper occupant compartment
Steering column	2	3
Upper hinge pillar max (cm)	9	12
Upper dash (cm)	9	11
Lower instrument panel (cm)	10	10

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CEN1201	CEN1214
Head
HIC-15	41	55
Peak gs at hard contact	no contact	no contact
Neck
Tension (kN)	0.7	0.7
Extension bending moment (Nm)	16	9
Maximum Nij	0.17	0.15
Chest maximum compression (mm)	25	27
Femur (kN)
Left	4.3	4.9
Right	0.2	0.1
Knee displacement (mm)
Left	10	5
Right	0	0
Knee-thigh-hip injury risk (%)
Left	2	3
Right	0	0
Maximum tibia index
Left	0.51	0.47
Right	0.42	0.48
Tibia axial force (kN)
Left	3.3	2.3
Right	0.3	0.3
Foot acceleration (g)
Left	75	73
Right	40	23

About the small overlap front test

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2009-14 models

Tested vehicle: 2009 Acura TL 4-door

The Acura TL was redesigned for the 2009 model year. Frontal ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Honda.

Evaluation criteria	Rating
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

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	VTF0814
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm)	3
Left (cm)	12
Center (cm)	12
Right (cm)	8
Brake pedal (cm)	4
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm)	0
Right (cm)	0
Steering column movement
Upward (cm)	0
Rearward (cm)	6
A-pillar rearward movement (cm)	1

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	VTF0814
Head
HIC-15	197
Peak gs at hard contact	no contact
Neck
Tension (kN)	0.8
Extension bending moment (Nm)	33
Maximum Nij	0.18
Chest maximum compression (mm)	24
Legs
Femur force - left (kN)	1.1
Femur force - right (kN)	3.2
Knee displacement - left (mm)	0
Knee displacement - right (mm)	0
Maximum tibia index - left	0.47
Maximum tibia index - right	0.52
Tibia axial force - left (kN)	2.4
Tibia axial force - right (kN)	2.8
Foot acceleration (g)
Left	76
Right	54

About the original moderate overlap front test

Side: original test

Rating applies to 2009-14 models

Tested vehicle: 2009 Acura TL 4-door with standard front and rear head curtain airbags and standard front seat-mounted torso airbags

The Acura TL was redesigned for the 2009 model year.

Evaluation criteria	Rating
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.

Smeared greasepaint shows where 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

Test ID	CES0847
B-pillar to longitudinal centerline of driver's seat (cm)	-13.5
Negative numbers indicate the amount by which the crush stopped short of the seat centerline.

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CES0847
Head HIC-15	245
Neck
Tension (kN)	1.0
Compression (kN)	0.0
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm)	56
Lateral force (kN)	1.6
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm)	47
Average deflection (mm)	41
Maximum deflection rate (m/s)	3.96
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s)	0.81
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN)	2.7
Acetabulum force (kN)	2.1
Combined force (kN)	4.5
Left femur
L-M force (kN)	0.7
L-M moment (Nm)	122
A-P moment (Nm)	50

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CES0847
Head HIC-15	230
Neck
Tension (kN)	0.0
Compression (kN)	0.4
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm)	41
Lateral force (kN)	1.2
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm)	33
Average deflection (mm)	27
Maximum deflection rate (m/s)	2.64
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s)	0.44
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN)	0.3
Acetabulum force (kN)	1.6
Combined force (kN)	1.7
Left femur
L-M force (kN)	0.9
L-M moment (Nm)	159
A-P moment (Nm)	-31

About the original side crash test

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)	36
Distance below top of head (mm)	31
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail	Pass
Max T1 acceleration (g)	12.8
Head contact time (ms)	61
Force rating	1
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N)	3
Max neck tension (N)	222

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