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CNN Live Today

Crash Test Results on Five Vehicles Out Today

Aired March 20, 2002 - 14:26   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Here car news now, shifting gears to safety on the road. Crash tests results on five new vehicles are out today. Here's how they stack up in testing: In the small car category, the Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Lancer and the Volvo S-40 all earned a good rating, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety calls the Impreza a best pick. The new Dodge Ram also went from a poor rating last year to good this year. And the new Kia Sedona minivan earned only an acceptable score.

Kathleen Koch at the Vehicle Research Center in Greene County, Virginia with more on the crash test dummies. Hey, Kathleen, good afternoon.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill. Well, you know, when you look at these smashed, mangled vehicles, these five vehicles, a couple of things come to mind. First of all, it's hard to believe that all this damage occurred in just a 40-mile-an-hour off set front-end crash test. And secondly, that every single one of these drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, would have likely walked away with only minor injuries.

Now, Adrian Lund, who is the chief operating officer for the Insurance Institute, is here to tell us first of all about this vehicle, the Volvo S-40, the most expensive of the five. How did it do?

ADRIAN LUND, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: Well, overall, the Volvo S-40 did a good job protecting the occupant. The one thing, we do see a little more intrusion than we'd like to see in the floor panel, and we saw some high forces on the dummy's right leg. So might be a severe sprain or maybe even a broken foot or something like that. But overall, good protection for the occupant.

KOCH: Now, let's look at the crash test for this Subaru Impreza. And that was one of your best picks. Tell us what made the difference in that particular vehicle? And I know what our viewers are seeing right now is basically the off-set test; it hits barrier that it crushes in somewhat, hits it at 40 miles per hour, and does pretty well. What makes this better than the Volvo?

LUND: Well, what's better about the Subaru is the -- the occupant space is maintained just about as well as you can. If you look closely down there at the floor board, you'll see that there's almost no intrusion, even in the foot well area. All the dummy numbers were quite low. There's lots of room for the restraint system to protect the occupant from serious injury.

KOCH: Now, the Mitsubishi Lancer also did quite well, got a good rating, and even did somewhat better than the Volvo. What does it say that vehicles like that, made by Mitsubishi, made by Kia actually perform better than the vehicle that's $6,000 to $8,000 more expensive than they are, the Volvo?

LUND: Well, I think the story here is that obviously the Volvo was a good performer, but you don't have to pay top dollar to get a safer vehicle. Subaru Impreza is our top-rated small car now, and the Mitsubishi Lancer is also a best pick performer.

KOCH: Now, how unusual is it that all of your vehicles get the good or acceptable rating? Does this happen often?

LUND: Well, this is uncommon, but it's becoming more common fortunately. What the crash testing has done is manufacturers pay more and more attention to designing vehicles to protect occupants in off-set frontal crashes. So the result is, we are seeing vehicles that do well in our tests.

KOCH: Mr. Lund, with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, thank you very much.

And if any of our viewers have any questions about how these five automobiles fared, or, say, how their vehicle might have passed tests, they can go to the Web site at www.highwaysafety.org and check it out. Back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: Good deal. Kathleen, thanks. Kathleen Koch reporting there.

KOCH: You're welcome.

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