Honda, GM, Subaru SUVs Rated ‘Good’ in Crash Tests

Small sport utility vehicles made by Honda Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Subaru earned “good” ratings in an insurer-funded group’s front-end crash test, and Ford Motor Co.’s Land Rover Freelander sport utility rated “acceptable.”

The models that rated “good” were Honda’s 2002 CR-V, GM’s 2002 Saturn VUE and Subaru’s 2003 Forester.

The 40-mile-per-hour frontal offset test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety evaluates how well a vehicle protects passengers when it is hit on the front-end driver’s side. The test looks at damage to the crash test dummy, intrusion into the driver’s compartment and how well the seat belt and air bag restrain the dummy.

The latest results show that auto makers are improving the structure of small sport utilities, institute officials said. Only two small sport utilities, Hyundai Motor Co.’s Santa Fe and an earlier version of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.’s Subaru Forester, had scored “good” on previous tests.

“This will mean improved protection for people in serious real-world crashes,” Insurance Institute President Brian O’Neill said.