Small Cars Have a Big Bumper Problem

All the talk of small, fuel-efficient cars these days has raised concerns from many of our readers of passenger safety. And while small cars may be easier to park, their bumpers are awfully vulnerable to a tap from the front or rear, according to a test of seven cars conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Although the organization is known for its safety crash tests, its bumper tests examine the damage to an owner’s bank account.

None of the bumpers on the tested cars earned a top rating of Good, and just one, the Smart Fortwo, got an Acceptable rating. The Chevrolet Aveo earned a Marginal rating, and the five remaining small cars (Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, Mini Cooper and Toyota Yaris) got the lowest rating of Poor.

The tests replicate a full-width hit, front and back, at six miles an hour, and a front and rear corner hit at three miles an hour.

The Rio had the most expensive single repair as well as the highest total damage ($9,380) for all four repairs. It sustained $3,701 in damage in the front full bumper test alone, which the institute pointed out was 30 percent of the car’s purchase price.
The Smart Fortwo, with $3,281 in total damage in the four tests, did the best over all. The institute said the Smart’s costs were relatively low because its prepainted plastic body panels are dent-resistant, inexpensive and easy to replace.

Things become really expensive if a bumper is not high enough to match and engage the bumper on the vehicle that is hitting it. Then, the bumpers slide over or under one another, resulting in damage to the car’s body rather than the bumper.

In the case of the Rio, the bumper slid under the striking barrier — designed to represent a car bumper — resulting in a kind of grand slam with damage to the Rio’s grille, hood, headlights, radiator, fender and air-conditioning condenser, as well as the bumper reinforcement bar.

The Honda Fit had damage to just about every panel and part on the rear because its bumper is not mounted high enough to protect the tailgate, rear panel and taillights, the institute said.

The institute is using a new ratings protocol in which repair costs are averaged and weighted to reflect real-world damage patterns. Because more insurance claims are filed for full frontal and full rear impacts than for corner impacts, those have more weight. The weighted average must be less than $500 for a vehicle to get a Good rating, less than $1,000 for Acceptable, and less than $1,500 for Marginal. If a repair is more than $1,500, the car gets a Poor.

Bumpers can be designed so there is no damage in low-speed impacts, and at a minimum they should not cost more to repair than the typical insurance deductible, which is why the institute set the limit for a Good rating at $500, said Joe Nolan, a senior vice president at the institute. A new bumper cover, reinforcement bar and paint generally cost $1,000, while replacing vehicle parts like grilles and headlights can cost $1,500.

In the past, the institute published only the amount of damage to vehicles and did not provide ratings. The new ratings protocol is being applied to 54 other vehicles that have been tested since 2007, and those ratings will soon be on the Web site.

Updated: June 11, 2009, 3:17 p.m. As the reader Robert pointed out, none of the 49 vehicles that the institute ran through bumper tests this year have received a Good rating, and only three received an Acceptable. A call to the institute confirmed those numbers.