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CNN Live Today

SUV Safety Tests

Aired June 17, 2003 - 10:47   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A bit of a wake-up call this morning for owners of small sports utility vehicles. Nearly all of the small SUVs tested by the insurance industry performed rather poorly. You see here the results that we got for the small ones. Topping the list was the Honda Element. Coming in next was the Saturn Vue, Mitsubishi Outlander, Land Rover Free Lander, Suzuki Grand Vitara, and then the Toyota Rav 4, there at the bottom of the list there for the small SUVs. Not very good news there.
We have some better news hopefully for owners of the larger SUVs.

Kathleen Koch checks in right now from Ruckersville, Virginia where the tests were conducted, and I hope there's some good news to report from out there, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is. And the good news, Leon, is that the Insurance Institute believes that this is a real word test.

Here is the barrier that they used, and if you take a look at it, it looks like what, the front of perhaps an SUV or a pickup truck. It's tall, it's contoured, it's a little bit narrow.

Let's step over here to the right. Now, this is the normal barrier that the government uses. You can see that it's low and it's very flat across the front.

The Insurance Institute believes with so many more SUVs and trucks on the road, to get a real idea of how serious a side impact crash can be, you've got to use one of these.

Let's take a look at the good performer, and there were a couple of them. Subaru Forrester was rated number one, a good rating. When it hits the barrier, the barrier hits it, I should say, at 31 miles per hour, it has a side airbag that inflates.

David Zuby is here with us. He's with the Insurance Institute.

David, tell us why this vehicle got the good rating.

DAVID ZUBY, INSURANCE INST. FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: One of the main reasons for the Forrester doing so well is it has an air bag...

KOCH: And that's standard, right?

ZUBY: That's standard equipment, standard equipment that deploys from the seat and inflates a nice cushion that cushions the dummy's chest and head from the intruding moving barrier.

KOCH: Importantly you have a high barrier hitting it.

ZUBY: Very important to have the head protection portion. Some cars offer a similar airbag that's not as big and only protects the chest. But the Subaru Forrester has a bag that protects both the head and chest.

KOCH: Again, we heard that seven of these small SUVs fared poorly. Let's take a look at the tape for the Mitsubishi Outlander. Now that's one of the typical small SUVs. This got a poor rating. Again, that is primarily, because I understand, it did not have one of these side airbags.

David, what did we see happen in that case?

ZUBY: That's correct. You can see there's no side airbag for either the front or rear dummy. A lot more deformation of the side structure. This did not resist the incoming barrier as well as the Forrester.

As the barrier moved in, the dummy's head came through the window and hit the front of the barrier. We recorded very high forces on the dummy's head, indicating the risk of a severe head injury was very likely.

KOCH: So the driver would have likely died?

ZUBY: Yes, because in addition to the head injuries, we recorded some high crushing forces on the dummy's chest, indicating that the risk of serious thorax injury was also very likely.

KOCH: David, this is a new test, and Mitsubishi and some of the other automakers say, you know, that this is very extreme, that this hasn't even been accepted yet by the government or by any of the automakers. Do you think this is fair? Is this realistic?

ZUBY: Well, it is a severe test, but side impact crashes that cause injury are also severe crashes.

KOCH: In fact, we've been talking with the auto industry about this crash test, and most of the safety engineers we've talked to agree this is next step for improving side impact safety of cars.

ZUBY: Thank you very much.

Leon, this is a measure they believe will be important with automakers in the future deciding to put these air bags into vehicles, both in small SUVs, and then in average-sized automobiles, passenger automobiles, which will be tested by the insurance institute in the fall. Same kind of a test, and because automobiles are lower than these small SUVs, they think they'll fare even worse than the small SUVs did.

KOCH: Thanks, Kathleen, for bringing us some hopeful news, at least. Appreciate that, Kathleen. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 17, 2003 - 10:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A bit of a wake-up call this morning for owners of small sports utility vehicles. Nearly all of the small SUVs tested by the insurance industry performed rather poorly. You see here the results that we got for the small ones. Topping the list was the Honda Element. Coming in next was the Saturn Vue, Mitsubishi Outlander, Land Rover Free Lander, Suzuki Grand Vitara, and then the Toyota Rav 4, there at the bottom of the list there for the small SUVs. Not very good news there.
We have some better news hopefully for owners of the larger SUVs.

Kathleen Koch checks in right now from Ruckersville, Virginia where the tests were conducted, and I hope there's some good news to report from out there, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is. And the good news, Leon, is that the Insurance Institute believes that this is a real word test.

Here is the barrier that they used, and if you take a look at it, it looks like what, the front of perhaps an SUV or a pickup truck. It's tall, it's contoured, it's a little bit narrow.

Let's step over here to the right. Now, this is the normal barrier that the government uses. You can see that it's low and it's very flat across the front.

The Insurance Institute believes with so many more SUVs and trucks on the road, to get a real idea of how serious a side impact crash can be, you've got to use one of these.

Let's take a look at the good performer, and there were a couple of them. Subaru Forrester was rated number one, a good rating. When it hits the barrier, the barrier hits it, I should say, at 31 miles per hour, it has a side airbag that inflates.

David Zuby is here with us. He's with the Insurance Institute.

David, tell us why this vehicle got the good rating.

DAVID ZUBY, INSURANCE INST. FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: One of the main reasons for the Forrester doing so well is it has an air bag...

KOCH: And that's standard, right?

ZUBY: That's standard equipment, standard equipment that deploys from the seat and inflates a nice cushion that cushions the dummy's chest and head from the intruding moving barrier.

KOCH: Importantly you have a high barrier hitting it.

ZUBY: Very important to have the head protection portion. Some cars offer a similar airbag that's not as big and only protects the chest. But the Subaru Forrester has a bag that protects both the head and chest.

KOCH: Again, we heard that seven of these small SUVs fared poorly. Let's take a look at the tape for the Mitsubishi Outlander. Now that's one of the typical small SUVs. This got a poor rating. Again, that is primarily, because I understand, it did not have one of these side airbags.

David, what did we see happen in that case?

ZUBY: That's correct. You can see there's no side airbag for either the front or rear dummy. A lot more deformation of the side structure. This did not resist the incoming barrier as well as the Forrester.

As the barrier moved in, the dummy's head came through the window and hit the front of the barrier. We recorded very high forces on the dummy's head, indicating the risk of a severe head injury was very likely.

KOCH: So the driver would have likely died?

ZUBY: Yes, because in addition to the head injuries, we recorded some high crushing forces on the dummy's chest, indicating that the risk of serious thorax injury was also very likely.

KOCH: David, this is a new test, and Mitsubishi and some of the other automakers say, you know, that this is very extreme, that this hasn't even been accepted yet by the government or by any of the automakers. Do you think this is fair? Is this realistic?

ZUBY: Well, it is a severe test, but side impact crashes that cause injury are also severe crashes.

KOCH: In fact, we've been talking with the auto industry about this crash test, and most of the safety engineers we've talked to agree this is next step for improving side impact safety of cars.

ZUBY: Thank you very much.

Leon, this is a measure they believe will be important with automakers in the future deciding to put these air bags into vehicles, both in small SUVs, and then in average-sized automobiles, passenger automobiles, which will be tested by the insurance institute in the fall. Same kind of a test, and because automobiles are lower than these small SUVs, they think they'll fare even worse than the small SUVs did.

KOCH: Thanks, Kathleen, for bringing us some hopeful news, at least. Appreciate that, Kathleen. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com