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American Morning

SUVs Perform Poorly in Crash Tests

Aired July 31, 2001 - 11:40   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: As we carry on, it's a bump that could knock a lot of change out of your wallet. The Insurance Institute is putting SUVs through low-speed fender benders. Only one SUV could proudly drive away and claim the label rough and rugged.

CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the Institute's testing facility in Virginia -- hi, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Donna.

Well, what the vehicle research center found out was that of these new SUVs, only one of them really got an acceptable rating. And we'll look at the testing on that one right now. This is a front end crash test of the Acura MDX, a front into angled barrier. And it sustained just $656 worth of damage.

Now, that was the best out of the seven midsize SUVs that were tested. That compares to, unfortunately, the worst overall performer, which was the Suzuki Grand Vitara, which in the same front end angle test sustained more than $1,500 in damage.

With us is David Zuby who's in charge of testing here at the vehicle research center. David, what accounts for this difference? Is it simply the price of these vehicles?

DAVID ZUBY, VEHICLE RESEARCH CENTER: Well, the price of the vehicle to buy doesn't really account for the difference. It's the design of the bumpers and whether or not the designers of the bumpers have taken into account whether or not they can protect the rest of the vehicle from expensive damage. And, two, partly the cost of the parts to repair and replace the damaged parts in the crash accounts for the differences in these kinds of results.

KOCH: Now, I understand you also conducted some other front end collision tests and those were into a flat barrier. And with us we have the best and the worst performers. Again, off here to my right you'll see the Acura MDX and if you zoom in close on the bumper you can barely see that it sustained just about $124 in damage just to the front end, a little paint damage there. But then to our left, when you look at the Isuzu Axiom down here underneath you'll see in the front flap crash it sustained over $800 worth of damage.

Now, it doesn't look that bad from the outside. ZUBY: No, it doesn't look that bad. But the main problem here is that the bumper cover, this molded plastic piece, is damaged enough that it cannot be repaired. So it has to be replaced. And it's a fairly expensive piece. And on top of that it needs to be painted so that it matches the rest of the car. When you add all that up, including damage that you can't see behind the bumper cover, you get $800 worth of damage.

KOCH: Thank you, David.

And the lesson for potential SUV owners is do your homework, check on the performance in these bumper tests to make sure that you don't buy an SUV where you have a little tap on the bumper that leads to a big repair bill -- Donna.

KELLEY: Thank you, Kathleen Koch.

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