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SUV Safety Tests: Side-Airbag Impact Safety Measured

Aired June 17, 2003 - 14:32   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, SUV owners, listen up to this one. Some important new tests measuring the safety of your vehicle in side impact crashes under way. The question is, does yours make the grade?
CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the test site in Ruckersville, Virginia.

Hello, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

And not very many of them did make the grade. Of the 12 that were tested, only two got good ratings and a full seven failed. But what is very interesting is that this is the first time the Insurance Institute has done side-impact tests. And they created a brand new barrier. This barrier, obviously, looks sort of like the front of a main -- a normal size SUV. It's very high. It's got a contoured front.

Now this in contrast to the federal barrier, the federal government has been using for a number of years since the '80s which is very low and very flat across the front. And the Insurance Institute thought this was a more accurate test, more representative of all those SUVs and the trucks that are out on the road today.

Let's take a look, though, at our very best performer in the test, and that was a Subaru Forester. Now these are small SUVs. It was hit at a speed of 31 miles an hour by this barrier, this deformable barrier. And it's a very violent crash. The glass breaks, smashes all over.

David Zuby is here from the Insurance Institute to talk with us about why this still got a good rating.

DAVID ZUBY, V.P. INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: Well, the Forester did well for a number of reasons. One is it's got a pretty good side structure that resists the intrusion of the barrier into the side. The other is that the driver is protected by this combination torso-head air bag, which inflates just as the striking vehicle hits the outside of the vehicle and provides a nice cushion for the dummy's head and chest.

KOCH: And this is a standard feature in this vehicle, but not in very many vehicles, correct? ZUBY: That's correct. This is a standard feature on a Subaru Forester and a handful of other vehicles, but in most vehicles in this class it's only offered as an option, if at all.

KOCH: Now one of the worst performers -- let's take a look at the test for that. Now that was Mitsubishi Outlander. That was also hit by the same barrier moving at 31 miles an hour, smashing into the side of the Mitsubishi Outlander, hitting it again in the exact same location. But David, tell us the difference here. I guess no side- airbag.

ZUBY: No side-airbag and you can see that the side structure is not as strong. It's pushed further into the occupant compartment, crushing the area where the driver was sitting. Without the protection of an airbag that blow of the force from the MDB coming in through the side impinged directly on the dummy.

KOCH: Could it kill the driver?

ZUBY: Could have killed the person had the dummy been a real person. The dummy's head hit the barrier. We measured very high forces on the head, indicating likelihood of serious injuries and we had crushing injuries to the chest in this dummy, as well.

KOCH: Now, again, this vehicle didn't have the airbag. Of the seven small vehicles that you tested, the small SUVs that failed, did they all fail for that very same reason?

ZUBY: That's right. None of the vehicles that rated poor in this series of tests had airbags for the driver or passenger.

KOCH: So when it's an option -- I understand that now 34 percent of people shopping for cars, say, You know, I would like to have that side impact-airbag to protect me and that that's gone up from just 18 percent five years ago. What does that say?

ZUBY: That's correct. I think people are -- that people buying new cars are recognizing the advantages of side impact-airbags. We hope to help them recognize that even further by showing these kind of tests where the vehicles that have the airbags provide better protection than the airbags without.

KOCH: David, thank you very much.

And obviously a really important safety improvement, because, Miles, some 10,000 people die each year in the side-impact crashes.

Back to you.

O'BRIEN: Kathleen, what does Mitsubishi say about all this?

KOCH: Mitsubishi says that its vehicles meet all federal safety standards and they say that these tests are very extreme.

They say -- quote --- "It's an extremely severe test not recognized or adopted by any automakers or by any government entity." But the Insurance Institute still believes it's a very fair and very accurate test.

O'BRIEN: All right. Revealing, no matter what you say about it. Kathleen Koch, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

You can get a complete listing of the crash test results on our Web sit. That's at cnn.com. And we invite you to check that out frequently for more depth and context to our coverage.

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 - 14:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, SUV owners, listen up to this one. Some important new tests measuring the safety of your vehicle in side impact crashes under way. The question is, does yours make the grade?
CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the test site in Ruckersville, Virginia.

Hello, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

And not very many of them did make the grade. Of the 12 that were tested, only two got good ratings and a full seven failed. But what is very interesting is that this is the first time the Insurance Institute has done side-impact tests. And they created a brand new barrier. This barrier, obviously, looks sort of like the front of a main -- a normal size SUV. It's very high. It's got a contoured front.

Now this in contrast to the federal barrier, the federal government has been using for a number of years since the '80s which is very low and very flat across the front. And the Insurance Institute thought this was a more accurate test, more representative of all those SUVs and the trucks that are out on the road today.

Let's take a look, though, at our very best performer in the test, and that was a Subaru Forester. Now these are small SUVs. It was hit at a speed of 31 miles an hour by this barrier, this deformable barrier. And it's a very violent crash. The glass breaks, smashes all over.

David Zuby is here from the Insurance Institute to talk with us about why this still got a good rating.

DAVID ZUBY, V.P. INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: Well, the Forester did well for a number of reasons. One is it's got a pretty good side structure that resists the intrusion of the barrier into the side. The other is that the driver is protected by this combination torso-head air bag, which inflates just as the striking vehicle hits the outside of the vehicle and provides a nice cushion for the dummy's head and chest.

KOCH: And this is a standard feature in this vehicle, but not in very many vehicles, correct? ZUBY: That's correct. This is a standard feature on a Subaru Forester and a handful of other vehicles, but in most vehicles in this class it's only offered as an option, if at all.

KOCH: Now one of the worst performers -- let's take a look at the test for that. Now that was Mitsubishi Outlander. That was also hit by the same barrier moving at 31 miles an hour, smashing into the side of the Mitsubishi Outlander, hitting it again in the exact same location. But David, tell us the difference here. I guess no side- airbag.

ZUBY: No side-airbag and you can see that the side structure is not as strong. It's pushed further into the occupant compartment, crushing the area where the driver was sitting. Without the protection of an airbag that blow of the force from the MDB coming in through the side impinged directly on the dummy.

KOCH: Could it kill the driver?

ZUBY: Could have killed the person had the dummy been a real person. The dummy's head hit the barrier. We measured very high forces on the head, indicating likelihood of serious injuries and we had crushing injuries to the chest in this dummy, as well.

KOCH: Now, again, this vehicle didn't have the airbag. Of the seven small vehicles that you tested, the small SUVs that failed, did they all fail for that very same reason?

ZUBY: That's right. None of the vehicles that rated poor in this series of tests had airbags for the driver or passenger.

KOCH: So when it's an option -- I understand that now 34 percent of people shopping for cars, say, You know, I would like to have that side impact-airbag to protect me and that that's gone up from just 18 percent five years ago. What does that say?

ZUBY: That's correct. I think people are -- that people buying new cars are recognizing the advantages of side impact-airbags. We hope to help them recognize that even further by showing these kind of tests where the vehicles that have the airbags provide better protection than the airbags without.

KOCH: David, thank you very much.

And obviously a really important safety improvement, because, Miles, some 10,000 people die each year in the side-impact crashes.

Back to you.

O'BRIEN: Kathleen, what does Mitsubishi say about all this?

KOCH: Mitsubishi says that its vehicles meet all federal safety standards and they say that these tests are very extreme.

They say -- quote --- "It's an extremely severe test not recognized or adopted by any automakers or by any government entity." But the Insurance Institute still believes it's a very fair and very accurate test.

O'BRIEN: All right. Revealing, no matter what you say about it. Kathleen Koch, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

You can get a complete listing of the crash test results on our Web sit. That's at cnn.com. And we invite you to check that out frequently for more depth and context to our coverage.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com