5 Named as 'Best Pick' in Crash Tests

Arlington, VA.December 11, 2002; Bloomberg News reported that Honda Motor Co.'s Accord and Toyota Motor Corp.'s Corolla were among five cars named "best pick" in an insurer group's crash tests, the first time all vehicles in a test group got the rating.

The vehicles include the 2003 Accord and Corolla, and 2002 models of Volkswagen AG's Audi A4 sedan, Suzuki Motor Corp.'s Aerio small car and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's Mini Cooper small car, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said. The tests involve a 40 mile-per-hour crash at an angle into a barrier.

The tests assess how well a vehicle absorbs the energy of a crash and limits injuries to occupants, the insurer-funded group said. The U.S. government does 35-mph crash tests, which the institute said its assessments complement. The "best picks" are chosen from vehicles that earn the group's "good" top ranking.

"It's now unusual for us to test a new passenger vehicle design of any type or size and not get a 'good' rating," said Brian O'Neill, president of the institute. In the group's first tests in 1995, just three of 14 cars tested got the top grade.

The Arlington, Virginia-based group other ratings are "acceptable," "marginal" and "poor." In bumper tests released last week for the same five cars, the Audi and Corolla were rated "good," the Accord "acceptable," the Mini Cooper "marginal" and the Aerio "poor."