Crash Ratings Article

[ROX]

Updated: 02:03 PM EDT
Safety Decoder: How to Make Sense of the Crash Ratings

By DANNY HAKIM, The New York Times




HummerLarge SUVs weighing more than 8,500 pounds, such as the Hummer H2, are exempt from government federal crash testing.


DETROIT (Oct. 26) -- The Ford Escape is "a genius on anything from dirt to gravel to granite," at least according to a recent ad in Maxim magazine. Not only does it have "brains for rocks," whatever that means, it has a computer that checks for "wheel slippage 200 times a second."

Not that any of that helped on the government's rollover test. The Escape, a sport-utility vehicle, tipped up on two wheels during the test, a potentially deadly result. The ad does not mention that, of course.

Likewise, an ad for the Dodge Durango in GQ boasts that it gets a "five-star" rating on the government's frontal crash test, but does not mention that the rear-wheel-drive version of the S.U.V. gets only three out of five stars on the government's rollover test and has been assessed a 21 percent risk of rolling over in a single-vehicle accident.

Ads for the 2005 Suzuki Verona do not mention safety at all, pitching it as a $17,994 way to "reward your expectations."

As it happens, the sedan is one of a small number of vehicles that merit only three stars on the government's frontal crash test, a result that represents a significantly higher risk of serious injury in such accidents than competing vehicles.

Automakers, as one would expect, emphasize the positive. Suzuki said in a statement that all of its models were "rigorously tested using a variety of methods."

The Verona notwithstanding, most vehicles can advertise a five-star safety rating from the government in some category. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been conducting a frontal crash test since the late 1970's and a side impact test since 1996. If a vehicle can't ace these tests or come close, you may want to think twice about buying it.

"Quite frankly, the scores are continuing to the point where it's rare for a vehicle not to get a four-star rating in a crash test," said Rae Tyson, an agency spokesman. "It speaks to the fact that cars are safer now than they have ever been, but it also speaks to the fact that we have to update our crash test programs, particularly for side impacts, which we are in the process of doing."

Road fatality rates in the United States are lower than they have ever been, but there are still more than 30,000 deaths a year in cars, minivans, S.U.V.'s and pickup trucks, and many more injuries. When considering safety, the government's frontal and side impact tests are only one part of what most safety experts say consumers should be paying attention to. The government's newer rollover testing, for instance, offers a wider range of results.

There is plenty of free information on the Web from the two main entities that conduct crash testing. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posts its data at http://www.safercars.gov, while the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (a research group financed by auto insurers) posts its information at http://www.iihs.org, including new evaluations of how well headrests lessen whiplash.

Consumer Reports magazine also compiles testing results from the government and insurers, runs vehicles through dozens of drive and handling tests and evaluates various design attributes, from blind spots to the difficulty of installing child seats. But looking up a vehicle on its Web site, http://www.consumerreports.org, requires a subscription.


The Top Five



Ford Five-Star Rated

The Ford Crown Victoria is one of only five cars that earned five stars in federal front, side and rollover crash tests.


1/5

Source: The New York Times

Making sense of everything that's out there, and not out there, can be daunting. Consider that the Hummer H2 and other S.U.V.'s that weigh more than 8,500 pounds, when fully loaded, are exempt from federal crash testing and fuel economy regulations. This is a vestige of how the system was set up before families were riding in such heavy vehicles. Automakers have lobbied to keep the exemptions in place, although proposed legislation in Congress would make these vehicles subject to some crash testing in a few years. One should also consider that such vehicles do not have to meet many minimum performance standards governing the sturdiness of roofs, door latches and many other features.

Only five models ace the government's front, side and rollover test, earning five stars in all categories. Because S.U.V.'s and pickups are at an inherent disadvantage in rollover evaluations, all five are sedans: Honda's Acura RL, the Volvo S80 and three Ford cars that are built on the same production line and essentially are the same vehicle: the Ford Crown Victoria, the Mercury Grand Marquis and the Lincoln Town Car.

Of the five, the Acura and Volvo also earned Best Pick designations from the insurance institute in their frontal crash tests. Both luxury sedans are loaded with technology aimed at preventing accidents, including one that safety experts say is particularly effective - stability control - a technology that applies braking to individual wheels to restore control to a driver when a vehicle swerves. Both sedans also have side air bags that protect your head - some only protect the chest - another feature praised by safety experts, which will be standard on most new vehicles by the end of the decade.

Performance on crash tests should not be the end-all. More research can be critical. For instance, the Crown Victoria, the Grand Marquis and the Lincoln Town Car are sturdy, but they are also the subject of continued scrutiny because of fires that are caused when their fuel tanks rupture during collisions. Ford has offered fire-shield kits to law enforcement agencies and limousine businesses that use the vehicles, but has angered consumer groups by not addressing the issue in cars owned by the general public. The company has argued that the specialty vehicles are more susceptible to problems.

Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety, a consumer advocacy group, said, "a good consumer looks for a vehicle that does well on the government and I.I.H.S. crash tests, but then you have defects like this which escape the tests."

For some vehicles, it helps to check the government's database of investigations and complaints at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recallsearch.cfm.

Looking at test results from both the government and the insurance institute is a good start because the institute's tests complement those performed by the government. For instance, in the government's frontal crash test, a car or truck is rammed against a solid barrier at 35 miles an hour. While accidents certainly happen at faster speeds, running into a solid wall is a severe event. By contrast, in the insurer's test, a car or truck runs into a deformable barrier, which has some flexibility, at 40 miles an hour. Furthermore, it's not a head-on crash, but an offset test where half of the front of the vehicle hits the barrier, showing how a vehicle's occupant compartment withstands a different kind of frontal collision.

The insurance institute's new side impact tests are also more severe than the government's test because they replicate what it's like for a vehicle to be struck by an S.U.V. or a pickup. The government's older test procedure approximates what it's like to be hit in the side by a sedan, though the test is being updated.


More From The Times


· Gone for Now, Shade and New Orleans' Hothouse Aura
· Next Nominee May Well Spark a Climactic Battle
· Red Cross Taps Credit Line to Cover Relief Expenses


The government has recently only begun rollover testing, and vehicles are showing a wide range of results. Rollovers account for about only 3 percent of all accidents but a third of all fatalities, or more than 10,000 deaths per year in the United States. S.U.V.'s and pickups are particularly vulnerable, but test results show that design and technology can make a significant difference in performance. That said, a safe vehicle does not have to be an expensive one. The government's rollover star rating is largely computed from a mathematical formula factoring in a vehicle's dimensions, while lesser emphasis is put on the tests conducted on a track. The reasoning is that most rollovers do not occur on a uniform surface, like a track, but happen when a vehicle is "tripped," say, by veering off the road or hitting a curb.

Still, it is interesting to know what vehicles tip up on two wheels, because most do not. This information is not easy to find. When you look up a vehicle on www .safercars.gov, it is possible to click on the rating that comes up, then drill down a level further and get a mini report card on a vehicle's results. Among the interesting details that emerge is a percentage assessment of rollover risk, which gives a much more specific picture of the data than star ratings. For instance, a pickup version of the Ford Explorer, called the Explorer Sport Trac, has the highest overall rollover risk assessment, at 34 percent in single-vehicle accidents for the rear-wheel-drive version.

You can also learn if a vehicle has an unusual safety warning. For instance, during testing of the 2005 BMW 3-Series sedan, an interior door panel was pushed into the pelvis of a crash test dummy, generating unusually high injury readings.

"I'd recommend that consumers look for vehicles that do well in all of the categories," said Adrian K. Lund, chairman of the insurance institute. "What you should expect is to find a vehicle that does well across the board. You don't want to find one that is good at frontal impact performance but not in a side impact crash."

At the very least, it is useful to compare a potential purchase with its competition. Even this can be challenging. Not all vehicles are tested in the course of a year, because it is expensive and time consuming, so there can be gaps in the results. Brand-new models, like Chevrolet's HHR, have yet to have any test results. Mr. Ditlow's consumer group recommends not buying all-new vehicles in their first year of production.

And then there are vehicles that have been totally redesigned, meaning that test scores from previous models don't really apply. One tip-off is that the vehicle is usually advertised as "all-new" if it has had a major redesign.

The Toyota Tacoma, for instance, is a pickup that can jump through a giant ring of fire, according to a recent ad in ESPN the Magazine, and "defy stuff like mud, dirt, physics and gravity."

But a rollover test? Not so much. The Tacoma tipped up on two wheels during testing performed by federal regulators. At least the 2004 model did. The redesigned Tacoma will be retested this year.

[ROX]

Updated: 02:03 PM EDT
Safety Decoder: How to Make Sense of the Crash Ratings

By DANNY HAKIM, The New York Times




HummerLarge SUVs weighing more than 8,500 pounds, such as the Hummer H2, are exempt from government federal crash testing.


DETROIT (Oct. 26) -- The Ford Escape is "a genius on anything from dirt to gravel to granite," at least according to a recent ad in Maxim magazine. Not only does it have "brains for rocks," whatever that means, it has a computer that checks for "wheel slippage 200 times a second."

Not that any of that helped on the government's rollover test. The Escape, a sport-utility vehicle, tipped up on two wheels during the test, a potentially deadly result. The ad does not mention that, of course.

Likewise, an ad for the Dodge Durango in GQ boasts that it gets a "five-star" rating on the government's frontal crash test, but does not mention that the rear-wheel-drive version of the S.U.V. gets only three out of five stars on the government's rollover test and has been assessed a 21 percent risk of rolling over in a single-vehicle accident.

Ads for the 2005 Suzuki Verona do not mention safety at all, pitching it as a $17,994 way to "reward your expectations."

As it happens, the sedan is one of a small number of vehicles that merit only three stars on the government's frontal crash test, a result that represents a significantly higher risk of serious injury in such accidents than competing vehicles.

Automakers, as one would expect, emphasize the positive. Suzuki said in a statement that all of its models were "rigorously tested using a variety of methods."

The Verona notwithstanding, most vehicles can advertise a five-star safety rating from the government in some category. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been conducting a frontal crash test since the late 1970's and a side impact test since 1996. If a vehicle can't ace these tests or come close, you may want to think twice about buying it.

"Quite frankly, the scores are continuing to the point where it's rare for a vehicle not to get a four-star rating in a crash test," said Rae Tyson, an agency spokesman. "It speaks to the fact that cars are safer now than they have ever been, but it also speaks to the fact that we have to update our crash test programs, particularly for side impacts, which we are in the process of doing."

Road fatality rates in the United States are lower than they have ever been, but there are still more than 30,000 deaths a year in cars, minivans, S.U.V.'s and pickup trucks, and many more injuries. When considering safety, the government's frontal and side impact tests are only one part of what most safety experts say consumers should be paying attention to. The government's newer rollover testing, for instance, offers a wider range of results.

There is plenty of free information on the Web from the two main entities that conduct crash testing. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posts its data at http://www.safercars.gov, while the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (a research group financed by auto insurers) posts its information at http://www.iihs.org, including new evaluations of how well headrests lessen whiplash.

Consumer Reports magazine also compiles testing results from the government and insurers, runs vehicles through dozens of drive and handling tests and evaluates various design attributes, from blind spots to the difficulty of installing child seats. But looking up a vehicle on its Web site, http://www.consumerreports.org, requires a subscription.


The Top Five



Ford Five-Star Rated

The Ford Crown Victoria is one of only five cars that earned five stars in federal front, side and rollover crash tests.


1/5

Source: The New York Times

Making sense of everything that's out there, and not out there, can be daunting. Consider that the Hummer H2 and other S.U.V.'s that weigh more than 8,500 pounds, when fully loaded, are exempt from federal crash testing and fuel economy regulations. This is a vestige of how the system was set up before families were riding in such heavy vehicles. Automakers have lobbied to keep the exemptions in place, although proposed legislation in Congress would make these vehicles subject to some crash testing in a few years. One should also consider that such vehicles do not have to meet many minimum performance standards governing the sturdiness of roofs, door latches and many other features.

Only five models ace the government's front, side and rollover test, earning five stars in all categories. Because S.U.V.'s and pickups are at an inherent disadvantage in rollover evaluations, all five are sedans: Honda's Acura RL, the Volvo S80 and three Ford cars that are built on the same production line and essentially are the same vehicle: the Ford Crown Victoria, the Mercury Grand Marquis and the Lincoln Town Car.

Of the five, the Acura and Volvo also earned Best Pick designations from the insurance institute in their frontal crash tests. Both luxury sedans are loaded with technology aimed at preventing accidents, including one that safety experts say is particularly effective - stability control - a technology that applies braking to individual wheels to restore control to a driver when a vehicle swerves. Both sedans also have side air bags that protect your head - some only protect the chest - another feature praised by safety experts, which will be standard on most new vehicles by the end of the decade.

Performance on crash tests should not be the end-all. More research can be critical. For instance, the Crown Victoria, the Grand Marquis and the Lincoln Town Car are sturdy, but they are also the subject of continued scrutiny because of fires that are caused when their fuel tanks rupture during collisions. Ford has offered fire-shield kits to law enforcement agencies and limousine businesses that use the vehicles, but has angered consumer groups by not addressing the issue in cars owned by the general public. The company has argued that the specialty vehicles are more susceptible to problems.

Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety, a consumer advocacy group, said, "a good consumer looks for a vehicle that does well on the government and I.I.H.S. crash tests, but then you have defects like this which escape the tests."

For some vehicles, it helps to check the government's database of investigations and complaints at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recallsearch.cfm.

Looking at test results from both the government and the insurance institute is a good start because the institute's tests complement those performed by the government. For instance, in the government's frontal crash test, a car or truck is rammed against a solid barrier at 35 miles an hour. While accidents certainly happen at faster speeds, running into a solid wall is a severe event. By contrast, in the insurer's test, a car or truck runs into a deformable barrier, which has some flexibility, at 40 miles an hour. Furthermore, it's not a head-on crash, but an offset test where half of the front of the vehicle hits the barrier, showing how a vehicle's occupant compartment withstands a different kind of frontal collision.

The insurance institute's new side impact tests are also more severe than the government's test because they replicate what it's like for a vehicle to be struck by an S.U.V. or a pickup. The government's older test procedure approximates what it's like to be hit in the side by a sedan, though the test is being updated.


More From The Times


· Gone for Now, Shade and New Orleans' Hothouse Aura
· Next Nominee May Well Spark a Climactic Battle
· Red Cross Taps Credit Line to Cover Relief Expenses


The government has recently only begun rollover testing, and vehicles are showing a wide range of results. Rollovers account for about only 3 percent of all accidents but a third of all fatalities, or more than 10,000 deaths per year in the United States. S.U.V.'s and pickups are particularly vulnerable, but test results show that design and technology can make a significant difference in performance. That said, a safe vehicle does not have to be an expensive one. The government's rollover star rating is largely computed from a mathematical formula factoring in a vehicle's dimensions, while lesser emphasis is put on the tests conducted on a track. The reasoning is that most rollovers do not occur on a uniform surface, like a track, but happen when a vehicle is "tripped," say, by veering off the road or hitting a curb.

Still, it is interesting to know what vehicles tip up on two wheels, because most do not. This information is not easy to find. When you look up a vehicle on www .safercars.gov, it is possible to click on the rating that comes up, then drill down a level further and get a mini report card on a vehicle's results. Among the interesting details that emerge is a percentage assessment of rollover risk, which gives a much more specific picture of the data than star ratings. For instance, a pickup version of the Ford Explorer, called the Explorer Sport Trac, has the highest overall rollover risk assessment, at 34 percent in single-vehicle accidents for the rear-wheel-drive version.

You can also learn if a vehicle has an unusual safety warning. For instance, during testing of the 2005 BMW 3-Series sedan, an interior door panel was pushed into the pelvis of a crash test dummy, generating unusually high injury readings.

"I'd recommend that consumers look for vehicles that do well in all of the categories," said Adrian K. Lund, chairman of the insurance institute. "What you should expect is to find a vehicle that does well across the board. You don't want to find one that is good at frontal impact performance but not in a side impact crash."

At the very least, it is useful to compare a potential purchase with its competition. Even this can be challenging. Not all vehicles are tested in the course of a year, because it is expensive and time consuming, so there can be gaps in the results. Brand-new models, like Chevrolet's HHR, have yet to have any test results. Mr. Ditlow's consumer group recommends not buying all-new vehicles in their first year of production.

And then there are vehicles that have been totally redesigned, meaning that test scores from previous models don't really apply. One tip-off is that the vehicle is usually advertised as "all-new" if it has had a major redesign.

The Toyota Tacoma, for instance, is a pickup that can jump through a giant ring of fire, according to a recent ad in ESPN the Magazine, and "defy stuff like mud, dirt, physics and gravity."

But a rollover test? Not so much. The Tacoma tipped up on two wheels during testing performed by federal regulators. At least the 2004 model did. The redesigned Tacoma will be retested this year.