SMALL BUMPS EXPENSIVE IN MID-SIZE SUV CRASH TESTS

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Small Bumps Expensive in Mid-Size SUV Crash Tests

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eight of nine mid-size sport utility vehicles racked up big damages in low-speed collision tests, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said Friday.
The U.S. insurance institute's chief operating officer, Adrian Lund, said the makers of the SUVs tried to create a rough-and-tough image, but the vehicles' bumpers proved to be flimsy in four tests of how well their bumpers absorbed low-speed impacts.

"Vehicles shouldn't sustain major damage in a minor collision at a fast walking speed," Lund said in a statement.

In a report, the institute gave only the 2003 model year Pilot by Japan's Honda Motor Co. Ltd. its "acceptable" rating for racking up a total of $1,616 in damage in four crash tests at five miles per hour.

By comparison, South Korea's Kia Motors Corp.'s 2003 Sorento sustained the most expensive damage, with a $6,583 total in the tests, to earn a "poor" rating.

Representatives of Kia and Honda could not immediately be reached for comment.

Other vehicles rated poor, with average damage per test of over $1,200, were the 2004 Cadillac SRX by General Motors Corp., of the United States, the 2003 Infiniti FX35 by Japan's Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., the 2004 Chrysler Pacifica by the U.S. unit of Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG and Toyota Motor Corp. of Japan's 2003 4Runner.

"Marginal" ratings went to Mitsubishi Motors Corp. of Japan's 2004 Endeavor, the 2003 Nissan Murano and the 2004 Lexus RX by Toyota.

The insurance institute's four tests consist of a front and rear collision into a flat barrier, a front-into-angle-barrier crash and a rear-into-pole impact.

Three of the five "poor" performers had the largest damage in the rear-into-pole test. The institute said the rear bumpers on the Chrysler Pacifica, Cadillac SRX and Kia Sorento weren't robust enough to keep damage away from other body parts and sheet metal.