The 2013 Honda Civic was the only small car to earn a top score on a crash test that simulates a front-end crash, while the 2014 Kia Forte was the worst of all small vehicles.
Both the two-door and four-door options of the Civic earned the top score in the "small overlap" crash test. The test is designed to replicate a crash in which the front corner of the vehicle hits another or an object like a pole or tree going 40 mph.
IIHS engineers said that the Forte test caused a "horrendous" crash with intrusion into the occupant compartment according to a YouTube video.
"In the worst cases safety cages collapsed, driver airbags moved sideways with unstable steering columns and the dummy's head hit the instrument panel," said the IIHS in a press statement.
"Side curtain airbags didn't deploy or didn't provide enough forward coverage to make a difference. All of this adds up to marginal or poor protection in a small overlap crash."
The 2013 Dodge Dart, Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus, and 2014 Scion tC all earned acceptable ratings in their crash tests. The 2013 Chevrolet Sonic, Cruze, and Volkswagen Beetle earned a "marginal" rating.
The 2013 Nissan Sentra, and Kia Soul received a "poor" rating according to the IIHS.
"As a group, small cars fared worse than their midsize moderately priced counterparts in the same test but better overall than small SUVs," said the IIHS in a statement.
The IIHS has yet to test the Toyota Corolla since the automaker plans on releasing the redesigned 2014 version later this month.
The Kia Forte did earn four out of five stars in basic crash tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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