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Morning News

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Issues Slow-Speed SUV Crash Test Results

Aired September 13, 2000 - 10:00 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: If you own an SUV, a sports utility vehicle, buckle up for a bit of bad news: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has issued disturbing findings of slow-speed crash tests. In fact, four of the five SUVs tested performed poorly in a five-mile-an-hour test.

CNN Detroit Bureau chief Ed Garsten now has looked over the findings and tells us what they mean now for consumers across the country.

Ed, hello.

ED GARSTEN, CNN DETROIT BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, good morning, Bill.

Well, so much for the ruggedness of sport utility vehicles. The Insurance Institute tested five: four of them were Japanese, one was German. The worst-performing one was the 2000 Isuzu Trooper. At only five miles an hour in four tests, it suffered at total of $11,158.

Now, that doesn't look like much in that tape right there, but it suffered $2,890 in damage in that one test that you saw. In that test $2,618 in damage, $2,300 in the front angle barrier, and over $3,000 in damage when it did the rear test that you see right there, the spare tire going through the windshield.

Now, the best-performing car, though, was the BMW X5. The X5 is a new vehicle this year. It costs in excess of $50,000. That suffered a total of only $2,187 in the four tests. However, there was some disturbing results in one of the tests. The front end to angle barrier, it did suffer almost $1,000 in damage.

Now, overall, the president of the IIHS, Brian O'Neill, said the results were pretty disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN O'NEILL, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: The manufacturers of sports utility vehicles market them as tough and rugged vehicles. But over the years, the institute's low-speed crash tests have shown that these vehicles are anything but tough and rugged. In fact, "flimsy" would be a better description. In a recent round of low-speed tests of new, mid-sized SUVs, we see similar results. They allow excessive amounts of damage in walking speed crashes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARSTEN: Indeed, O'Neill says the crash test -- the Isuzu Trooper was the worst-performing SUV in the five-mile-an-hour test that the IIHS has ever tested.

We should tell you we did contact Isuzu. They have not gotten back with us just yet. Mitsubishi said they have no comment at this time -- Bill.

HEMMER: Ed, one thing that strikes me is the slow speed: five miles an hour. How do they arrive at that? In addition to that, since it is so slow, does that give greater verification of the testing knowing how much damage it did at such a slow rate?

GARSTEN: Sure. Fair question. Well, actually, federal regulations only require that the bumpers hold up in 2.5 miles an hour, so the Insurance Institute decided that they would ratchet it up by two and say, well, 2 1/2 miles an hour really doesn't -- isn't representative of a real crash. Let's get it up to five and see how it will perform. And here you see, these vehicles anyway, performed miserably.

HEMMER: All right, Ed. Ed Garsten live in Detroit, thanks for the update there.

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