"Ford Escape Hybrid Among Small SUVs to Earn Top Safety Rating" Green Car Advisor

Ford Escape Hybrid Among Small SUVs to Earn Top Safety Rating

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

Many people if not most who buy a small or midsize sport utility vehicle do so because they believe it offers greater personal protection than a car. And for that extra measure of protection, they are willing to sacrifice fuel economy.

Today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced that the 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid earned top ratings in recent crash-test evaluations, bringing to three the number of hybrid SUVs getting superior mileage without compromising safety.

The other hybrid SUVs earning top-safety-pick honors from the respected institute are the midsize 2008 Saturn Vue Hybrid and the 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, which the institute had previously evaluated.

But the big winner announced today by the institute was the 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan, which outperformed the competition in recent front, side and rear crash test evaluations of eight small SUV models.

The 2009 Escape, including the hybrid version, 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander and 2008 Nissan Rogue joined the Tiguan in earning top ratings in all three of the institute's evaluations. All four models come equipped with electronic stability control and side airbags, which the institute considered very important.

The institute ratings of good, acceptable, marginal or poor are based on results of front and side crash tests, plus evaluations of seat/head restraints for protection against whiplash injury in rear crashes.

The 2008 Chevrolet Equinox, 2008 Jeep Patriot, 2008 Suzuki Grand Vitara and 2-door 2008 Jeep Wrangler all earned the second-lowest rating of marginal.

"In the latest tests, the Tiguan's performance is a standout," Institute President Adrian Lund said in a statement. "It sailed through the front and side crash tests."

Lund said the four top-rated models afford "superior crash protection in their class. This is a huge change from just 5 years ago, when most small SUVs were rated either marginal or poor in our side test, and standard side airbags and electronic stability control were rare."

The institute views electronic stability control as very important because it can help drivers maintain control in the worst situation -- loss of vehicle control at high speed -- by engaging automatically when it senses vehicle instability and helping to bring a vehicle back into the intended line of travel.

The institute claims the feature lowers the risk of a fatal single-vehicle crash by about 50 percent, and lowers the risk of a fatal single-vehicle rollover crash by as much as 70 percent.

In the mid-1990s, few vehicles earned the top rating of good in the frontal test. Now, nearly every vehicle is rated good for frontal protection.

An exception is the 2-door Wrangler, which was tested without its optional side airbags. The previous version of the Wrangler, in which side airbags weren't available, earned a rating of marginal for protection in side crashes, and the new model performed even worse, earning the lowest rating of poor.

A new problem was that the driver door opened during the impact. This didn't significantly affect the movement of the dummy during the test, but an open door in a crash could lead to partial or complete ejection of occupants.

The Wrangler and Equinox are the only two vehicles tested this time around without standard side airbags. The Jeep Patriot does have standard curtain airbags, but additional torso airbags designed to protect an occupant's chest and abdomen are optional.

When side airbags are optional, the institute's policy is to test without the option because this is how most of the vehicles will be sold. A manufacturer may request another test with the optional airbags if the automaker reimburses the institute for the cost of the vehicle.

Chrysler requested a second test of the Patriot with optional torso airbags. When tested with the standard curtain airbags only, the Patriot earned the second-lowest rating of marginal.

While the curtains did a good job of keeping the driver and rear passenger dummies' heads from being struck by the barrier or hard structures inside the vehicle, forces on the driver dummy indicated that rib fractures and internal organ injuries would be likely in a real-world crash of this severity.

In the second side test of the Patriot with the optional seat-mounted torso airbags, this vehicle's rating improved to good.

The Escape -- the hybrid version included -- was re-engineered for the 2009 model year. Among the changes are modifications to the frontal airbags and safety belts, plus structural changes to improve occupant protection in frontal crashes.

The new Escape improved from acceptable to good in the institute's frontal offset crash test. A new seat design improved the rear crash protection rating from acceptable to good. Side airbags, optional before 2008 models, now are standard.

The Outlander, Rogue, and Tiguan also earned good ratings for their seat/head restraint designs.

Institute research has found that neck injury rates for drivers of vehicles with seat/head restraint combinations rated good are 15 percent lower than for drivers of vehicles with combinations rated poor.