The electric Ford Mustang Mach-E received the highest crash safety scores of 13 midsize SUVs recently tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for injury protection in a "moderate overlap front" collision.

The tests included second row passenger safety ratings for and the Mustang Mach-E was the only model to receive a perfect score in the test, which simulates a vehicle being struck in the front off-center.

"All these vehicles provide excellent protection for the driver," said IIHS President David Harkey, "but only a handful extend that level of safety to the back seat."

The test uses a dummy designed to replicate a small woman or 12-year-old child.

MOST VEHICLES CAN'T PASS MUSTER IN NEW TOUGHER CRASH TESTS

It monitors how well the seatbelt works to restrain them, including avoiding contact with the front seat, applying too much pressure to their body or allowing them to "submarine" under the lap belt over five categories.

The Mustang Mach-E received top Good score on all driver and rear passenger ratings, while the Model Y ranked Acceptable for Rear passenger restraints & kinematics, because it allowed the passenger's head to get to close to the front seat. The electric Tesla was rated Good in the other nine categories and overall. The four possible scores are Good, Acceptable, Marginal and Poor.

The Ford Explorer and Subaru Ascent also received overall Good scores, but were rated Acceptable on two rear passenger metrics.

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The Chevrolet Traverse, Toyota Highlander, and Volkswagen Atlas earned Marginal overall scores due to their rear seat performance, while the Honda Pilot, Hyundai Palisade, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler 4-door, Mazda CX-9 and Nissan Murano were given Poor ratings.

All the ratings covered 2023 models except for the Pilot which was a 2022 as it was fully redesigned this year, but has not been tested yet.

"Zeroing in on weaknesses in rear seat safety is an opportunity to make big gains in a short time, since solutions that are already proven to work in the front can successfully be adapted for the rear," said IIHS Senior Research Engineer Marcy Edwards.

Self-censorship is ruining academia as the majority of college professors fear speaking freely, a university professor resigning over diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives told Fox News.

"We're literally moving away from the foundations of academia," Matthew Wielicki told Fox News. "If professors have any hesitancy in their speech, if students are hesitant to ask questions, if there is a decrease in dialogue because of a fear of retribution—that's the fundamental principles that universities were founded on."

More than half of the nearly 1,500 college faculty members polled in a Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) survey published in December were afraid of losing their jobs or reputations because of their words being used against them, even if unfairly. About a third said they don't feel they can freely express their opinions.

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"I definitely experienced that," Wielicki said.

The earth science professor announced his resignation from the University of Alabama in January, citing the "obsession" over the school's push for equity in science. He tweeted that "the rise of illiberalism in the name of DEI is the antithesis of the principles that universities were founded on." 

"I think when I started speaking out, it came very clear to me that saying what I said was very taboo," Wielicki told Fox News. "People called me a racist straight away when I didn't actually talk much about race at all."

SCIENCE PROFESSOR SAYS CHALLENGING UNIVERSITY DIVERSITY AND CLIMATE INITIATIVES HAS BEEN 'CAREER SUICIDE'

He said the increasingly oppressive atmosphere on campuses leaves professors feeling like they can't ask questions or discuss controversial subjects with students.

"If you're a young faculty member and you've busted your butt to get to that position, you're not going to want to rock the boat," Wielicki said. 

Wielicki was most shocked by the FIRE survey's finding that, depending on the scenario, up to 36% of faculty endorsed their colleges formally investigating professors for controversial statements.

"Nobody really wants to discuss the issues, but they're more than happy to throw around some slander about you or call you names," he said. 

Fear of speaking freely isn't isolated to conservative professors, the survey found, with 40% of liberal faculty also fearing retribution if they said something unfavorable. 

"I think everybody walks on eggshells," Wielicki said.

"If there's one thing we've seen, it's that it doesn't really matter if you're in the tribe or not," he added. "If you say something wrong, that's enough to get you essentially ostracized and kicked out." 

To watch the full interview with Wielicki, click here.