Top Crash Test Ratings for 3 SUVs

Only three model year 2004 sport utility vehicles earned perfect scores in the latest series of U.S. government frontal and side-impact crash tests, federal safety regulators said Wednesday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Nissan Motor Co.’s Infiniti FX, General Motors Corp.’s Saturn Vue and Toyota Motor Corp.’s Highlander received all of the five possible stars, which indicate how well they protect their occupants against serious injury in the closely watched tests.

The redesigned Dodge Durango also won a perfect rating in the frontal crash test, in which vehicles are pulled into a fixed barrier at 35 miles per hour. But side-impact tests were not conducted on the Durango, NHTSA said.

Vehicles scoring lowest in the frontal tests were all from GM. They included the Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Rainier, GMC Envoy and GMC Envoy XUV, Isuzu Ascender and Oldsmobile Bravada, which are built off the same platform or chassis. All got a three-star rating for protection of front seat positions in a crash.

GM’s Cadillac SRX and Toyota’s RAV4 both got four-star ratings in the frontal crash tests, NHTSA said.