The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a report which shows SUVs and cars cause more damage to each other in bumper-to-bumper accidents than we may think, and the bigger car doesn’t always cause the most damage. What many might consider a small collision where one vehicle is rear-ended could result in thousands of dollars in repairs. Federal regulations currently mandate the cars must have a bumper which protects 16-20 inches from the ground, however there are no similar rules for SUVs and trucks. The insurance institute blames the differences on a “long-standing gap” in federal auto safety regulations.
“SUVs and cars share the road,” said Joe Nolan, the Institute’s chief administrative officer. “The problem is they don’t share the same bumper rules, and consumers end up paying the price.” In low-speed crash tests, the institute found that damages resulted in costs ranging from $2,995 to $9,867. Broken radiators and cooling fans resulted is especially high costs when cars plowed into SUVs and visa-versa. Sometimes, the bigger car came out with more damages than the smaller vehicle, such as when a Toyota Corolla rear-ended a Rav4, the Rav4 suffered more damage.
According to news reports, the institute also found that bumpers are weak due to rules which allow them to only withstand 2.5 mph impacts. SUVs do not have any bumper regulations. I hope safety standards are raised so collisions cause less damage to vehicles in bumper-to-bumper accidents.
