All-New Subaru Impreza Has Standard Pedestrian Airbag, Crash Video Released

We often call Subaru "the Japanese Volvo", but things are getting out of hand. The Impreza takes safety more seriously than any other car in the compact segment. Pretty soon, the IIHS will have to come up with a new rating system.

We've seen pedestrian airbags before, but this one seems to be a little better. Instead of just protecting the person's head when it hits the windshield, it extends towards the nose of the car. Subaru must have worked long and hard on that feature.

EyeSight is, of course, Subaru's name for the collision avoidance tech. It's been around since 2014 in most major markets, but the Impreza will have Version 3.0, the latest one. The most advanced feature is that it detects people around the car, not just in front. Again, that's something that reminds us of Volvo.

Subaru says that the new SGP platform has 1.4 times the energy absorption capacity of the old one. Not only that, but they've looked at all the major hazard areas and fixed them. There's more structure around the front suspension struts for that dreaded small-overlap test; the seats aren't bolted directly to the floor, but to a crumple area; the steering column has two mounts to make it resilient.

None of what we said above necessarily applies to the US-spec 2017 Impreza. But we think it should, considering that Subaru prides itself on having the safest cars.

Size-wise, the car is 1.6 inches longer than before and 1.5 inches wider (4 cm and 3.8 cm). The cabin is also roomier and they the new double-wishbone independent rear suspension should make it better in the corners.