IIHS midsized sedan bumper test–None rated Good (Yahoo!)

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IIHS midsized sedan bumper test–None rated Good (Yahoo!)Fixing bumpers can be expensive. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tested six midsized sedans and found none of their bumpers held up well in the kinds of low-speed impacts bumpers are supposed to sustain. The Institute tested the Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 6, and Nissan Maxima. None were rated Good. Bumpers on the Mazda 6, the best performer in the test, rated Acceptable. IIHS rates cars on a scale of Good, Acceptable, Marginal, and Poor. The Honda Accord and Hyundai Sonata rated Marginal. The other three cars received Poor ratings. In the tests, the cars’ bumpers are rammed straight into a solid barrier at 6 mph in the front and rear. One front and one rear corner are also subjected to 3 mph impacts. Current federal standards call for 2.5 mph for the front and rear barrier portion of their tests, and 1.5 mph for the corner impacts. Repair estimates for the four impacts are totaled and averaged according to how prevalent each type of accident is in the real world. The evaluation includes a weighting that reflects real-world accident patterns. Weighted average repairs of less than $500 merit a Good rating, under $1,000 is Acceptable, and less than $1,500 is marginal. Any estimate over $1,500 is considered Poor. The bumper tests have no bearing on crash safety. But they do impact insurance rates, since many accidents submitted to insurance companies are minor and involve repairing body damage that could have been avoided with better bumpers. The best bumpers prevent damage to other body parts such as headlights, radiator supports, fenders, and trunk lids, which are usually more expensive to repair or replace than bumper materials. The Institute noted significant changes with the Accord helped it to lower repair costs, while the design changes for the Fusion and Malibu have increased potential repair costs. However, there is more to a vehicle redesign than bumper performance and buyers need to weigh all the factors, including crash test performance. Four of the six new vehicles tested improved relative to their predecessors. IIHS rated 9 other midsized sedans on the market in 2007 that have not been redesigned since the test. None of those vehicles earned better than a Marginal score. Only the Mitsubishi Galant and the Toyota Camry received Marginal ratings, the rest scored Poor, indicating average repair costs of more than $1,500 in low-speed accidents. In June, IIHS released bumper tests of small cars, and in that category the tested cars performed poorly.