New Beetle ranks No. 1 in slow-speed crash test

The Beetle performed well in the pole impact test

April 27, 1998
Web posted at: 11:48 p.m. EDT (0348 GMT)

From Detroit Bureau Chief Ed Garsten

DETROIT (CNN) -- The new Volkswagen Beetle sustained the least damage of any small car in a slow-speed crash test conducted for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Out of 12 small cars tested at 5 miles per hour, the Beetle sustained $134 in damage to its bumpers after four tests, institute President Brian O'Neill said.

The next best performance was by the Saturn SL2, which had $656 in total damage.

"The new Volkswagen Beetle has by far the best bumpers of any small car we've tested in recent years," O'Neill said.

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A L S O :

Damage repair costs in 4 low-speed crash tests at 5 mph

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The Beetle's performance is the best in a slow-speed test since the 1981 Ford Escort, which sustained no damage in any of its four 5 mph tests.

The Hyundai Elantra performed the worst of the 12 models tested recently, with $3,042 in damage.

5 mph rear pole test
Car	Damage	Video
Volkswagen Beetle	$0	1.1 MB / 20 sec. / 240x180 768 K / 20 sec. / 160x120 QuickTime movie
Hyundai Elantra	$1,711	928 K / 17 sec. / 240x180 608 K / 17 sec. / 160x120 QuickTime movie

The test is significant because it shows that the Beetle will sustain little damage in the kind of fender-bender common in urban areas, saving motorists on repair and insurance costs, O'Neill said.

The institute tested the small cars by driving them and backing them straight into a flat barrier at 5 mph, and then repeating the test at an angle. It also backed the cars into a pole similar to those sometimes found in parking lots.

Albert King, a crash-test expert at Wayne State University, said the Beetle performed well because its bumpers contained energy filters, which work on the same principle as shock absorbers.

Energy filters in the Beetle's bumpers compress during a front impact

"This is the first time I've seen zero in pole impact. It's really amazing," he said.

King said the Elantra suffers from not having energy absorbers like the Beetle, so that "when it hits, something's got to give."

But King cautioned that strong bumpers don't always translate into increased safety for a vehicle's occupants.

The institute also carried out crash tests at 40 mph. Those results will be released next week.

Both O'Neill and King cautioned that performance in the slow-speed test is not a predictor of results in the high-speed test.

Related sites:

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• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
• Welcome to VW
• Welcome to the Saturn Web Site
• Welcome To Hyundai Motor Company

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