http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=198 found this doing some research. Here is the 09 ratings. http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=1028

 

Cool--the 09 head/neck ratings are only "Acceptable," while the 04-08 ratings are "Good." Gotta love those Japanese engineers...

 

i can personally vouch for the crash protection in 6th gens. I came out scratchless from this accident.

the only air bag that didnt deploy was the steering wheel. All other airbags and seat belt worked perfectly. Thanks Nissan!

 

I believe they be getting more stringent on crash ratings...as many cars were starting to receive 4 and 5 star ratings manufacturers were saying their cars are "good enough" and don't need to improve safety because they already achieved 5 stars...but people are still dying in high speed crashes so they still need to improve safety to some extent.