Cars Show Costly Damage in 5-MPH Crash Tests

Seven large family and luxury sedans sustained extensive and costly damage in a series of four crash tests performed at 5 mph, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said Tuesday.

The group, which represents large insurers, said the results show that auto makers are more concerned with nice-looking large cars than with preventing damage in low-speed crashes.

None of the bumpers on the tested cars had damage of less than $1,500 in the four tests combined, the institute said. Six of the seven sustained more than $2,000 in damage, and two came close to $3,000.

The tests are meant to simulate the kinds of impacts that occur in commuter traffic and parking lots.

Toyota Motor Corp.’s 1998-2000 Lexus GS400 performed the worst, with $2,746 in damages in the four tests, followed by General Motors Corp.’s 2000 Cadillac Seville at $2,735, the institute said. The 1997 Seville performed slightly better at $1,958.

Other vehicles included GM’s 2000 Chevrolet Impala ($2,342), 2000 Buick LeSabre ($2,084) and 1999-2000 Buick Park Avenue ($1,806), and DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler LHS ($2,406) and Dodge Intrepid ($2,115).

Headlights and other safety-related parts had to be replaced, the institute said. Every sedan sustained damage extending beyond the bumpers to the fenders and other expensive sheet-metal parts.

“It’s obvious that car bumpers still aren’t being designed to do what they’re supposed to do, which is bump and absorb the energy of a low-speed impact so there’s little or no damage,” institute President Brian O’Neill said.

“One problem is that some of the bumpers are simply too close to the car body,” he said.

The auto firms dismissed the tests as not reflecting real-world situations and said consumers should consider the source.

“This group is designed to make these numbers as high as possible so that there will be an effort to try to redesign bumpers so that the insurance companies incur less costs,” Lexus spokeswoman Nancy Hubbell said.