Explorer Tops Insurance Institute’s Crash Tests

Ford Motor Co. engineers insisted that the redesigned 2002 Explorer would do better than its predecessors in crash tests, and on Tuesday their faith was rewarded as the world’s most popular sport-utility vehicle won the insurance industry’s top rating for high-speed crash protection.

The latest test underscores what the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said is an “encouraging” improvement in crash safety performance within the popular mid-size SUV segment.

The 2002 Explorer became one of five mid-size SUVs--and the only one not from a luxury brand--to be rated “good” and a “best buy” for so-called high-speed offset-crash performance by the institute. Explorers in the 1995-2001 model years were rated “acceptable.”

DaimlerChrysler’s 2002 Jeep Liberty and Isuzu Motors Ltd.’s 2002 Rodeo, the two other mid-size SUVs in the institute’s latest round of testing, received “marginal” ratings, though not for hard-to-correct structural flaws.

“Structurally, they were very good,” said Brian O’Neill, president of the insurance industry-supported research institute. “Their problems are with seat-belt and air-bag performance.”

The institute’s complete ratings for offset crashes can be found on-line at www.highwaysafety.org.

The testing involves ramming a vehicle into an offset barrier at 40 mph. The vehicle and the sensor-equipped crash dummy inside are evaluated to determine how well the vehicle’s structure protected the dummy and how much damage was done if the dummy was tossed about by the force of the impact.

This year the institute has tested 11 mid-size SUVs that were either new or, as in the case of the Explorer, redesigned. None failed the crash test with a “poor” rating.

The Jeep Liberty is a good example, he said, of a vehicle that could test better if its air bags and seat belts were improved. Though its overall evaluation was “marginal,” it received ratings of “good” or “acceptable” in all but one category. That was a critical category, though: head and neck protection. A contributing factor was delayed air bag deployment.

The Explorer’s performance was much-needed good news for Ford Motor, which has been struggling with a series of recalls this year.

Ford spokeswoman Sara Tatchio echoed the auto industry party line on crash testing, cautioning that “it is dangerous to focus too much on a single test.”

Still, she acknowledged, “We’re happy about these results.”