Sep 3, 2008

Four Small SUVs Earn Good Safety Ratings

There is positive news on the safety front. Automakers are improving the crashworthiness of their vehicles and doing things like installing side air bags and electronic stability control -- an important crash avoidance feature -- on more models. And the improvements have been noted in the recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety front, side and rear crash test evaluations of eight small SUV models. For the first time, every model the Institute tested is equipped with electronic stability control as standard equipment.

Institute ratings of good, acceptable, marginal or poor are based on results of front and side crash tests plus evaluations of seat/head restraints for protection against whiplash injury in rear crashes. The best performers, which earned the Institute's Top Safety Pick award, were the 2009 Ford Escape, 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander, 2008 Nissan Rogue and 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan. The four models earned good ratings in all three of the Institute’s evaluations, and all are equipped with standard electronic stability control and side air bags. The Escape’s ratings also apply to the hybrid version, which is sold in near-identical form as the Mercury Mariner and Mazda Tribute as well as the Escape. Consumers now have multiple hybrid SUVs earning Top Safety Pick awards from which to choose. Others include the midsize Saturn Vue and Toyota Highlander, which the Institute evaluated earlier.

The organization’s frontal offset crash test, which began in 1995, drove major design changes in vehicles to do a better job of protecting people in the most common kind of serious crash. In the mid-1990s, few vehicles earned the top rating of good in the frontal test. Now, nearly every vehicle is rated good for frontal protection. Since the Institute began its side tests in 2003, manufacturers have been following the same path, changing their vehicles to improve protection in serious side impacts.

An exception is the two-door 2008 Jeep Wrangler, which was tested without its optional side airbags. The previous version of the Wrangler, in which side airbags weren’t available, earned a rating of marginal for protection in side crashes; and the new model performed even worse, earning the lowest rating of poor. In the most recent test the driver door opened during the impact. This didn't significantly affect the movement of the dummy during the test, but an open door in a crash could lead to partial or complete ejection of occupants, neither of which is considered very safe.