First introduced in 2008 and facelifted in 2012, the Lincoln MKS is one of the oldest models of Ford's luxury division. In essence a posher Ford Taurus with a sea of chrome instead of a proper radiator grille, the 2014 model year Lincoln MKS has been recently put to the test by the IIHS and it didn't fare well at all.
In the latest round of small overlap crash tests, the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety found out the 2014 BMW 5 Series sedan fared "marginal", while the 2014 model year Infiniti Q70 performed "good", thus qualifying for the heavily revered IIHS Top Safety Pick+ safety award. And guess what - the Lincoln MKS full-size luxury sedan was the loser of the three, offering insufficient levels of protection in the demanding 40 miles per hour small overlap crash test.
As you can see in the video attached below and as IIHS experts highlighted, the driver space was severely limited after the crash, with the structure pushing in a whooping 12 inches in some areas of the cabin.
Furthermore, the steering column moved 5 inches inward and 6 inches to the right, which is plain unacceptable for this type of vehicle in this day and age. The crash test dummy's head minutely contacted the front airbag before sliding off the left side, ultimately hitting the instrument panel.
With so much movement during impact, dummy injury measures showed that left hip injuries would be likely and left knee and lower leg injuries would be possible. As such, the dead beat last "poor" rating for the Lincoln MKS applies to 2009 through 2015 model years. Don't know about you, but a 4,243-pound luxury vehicle that costs upward of $40k of your hard earned bucks shouldn't have perform this badly.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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