However, the small cars got better grades than smaller SUVs.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released the results Wednesday morning.
The Honda Civic got the top score for protecting drivers.
The Kia Forte and Soul and Nissan Sentra all got the worst grade of poor.
Researchers say bad ratings are because of structures that the tests found don't allow airbags enough space to block impact, providing insufficient cushion for the driver's head.
Complete results available at: http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr080813.html
