Small SUVs improve markedly in safety of design

The 2009 Ford Escape has earned top safety pick from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in tests for front, rear and side impacts.The best performers also included the 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander, 2008 Nissan Rogue and 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan. The IIHS tested eight small SUV models in the tests, and for the first time each model came with electronic stability control (ESC) as standard equipment, an institute release says.ESC lowers the risk of a fatal single-vehicle rollover crash by as much as 70% and it lowers the risk of a fatal-single vehicle crash by about half. “This is a huge change from just five 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,” said Adrian Lund, president of IIHS.An exception is the two-door Jeep Wrangler, though. “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,” an IIHS release says.A new problem, notes the institute, was that the driver door opened during the impact, which could lead to a partial or complete ejection of occupants in a crash.