Adrian Lund Quotations

When the institute first tested midsize SUVs in 1996, none was rated good. Now, there are 16 current midsize SUV designs rated good.

Side airbags can protect the head, but if the vehicle structure doesn't hold up well then serious injuries to other body regions still can occur, ... With better structures along with the side airbags, the performances of these vehicles would improve.

More manufacturers are requesting tests when they have new designs they expect to perform well. We encourage this because it means the test results will be released earlier, as consumers are beginning to shop for new models. When we do conduct tests early, the automakers provide reimbursement for the cost of the vehicles.

Results for (the Rav4) show manufacturers can provide good protection for occupants in the two most common kinds of serious crashes,

SUVs can have the same utility they do today and still be equipped with decent bumper systems that extend down to where they match up with those on cars, ... Until then, motorists who bump into mismatched vehicles, even at very low speeds, will have no choice but to open their wallets.

We would have preferred for Ford to go back to this performance level for bumpers on the Focus instead of equipping the new model with even flimsier bumpers than those on the recent model Escorts it replaces.

People think of head restraints as headrests, but they're not. They're important safety devices. You're more likely to need the protection of a good head restraint in a collision than the other safety devices in your vehicle because rear-end collisions are so common.

Audi and Infiniti are ahead of many of their competitors in side-impact protection. They engineered the new models to do well in both of the Institute's tests, and they want to get the results out more quickly to demonstrate to buyers their cars' state-of-the-art crashworthiness.

They don't provide seats with head restraints that provide the kind of protection we're looking for in rear crashes.

It's encouraging that only 12 of the 58 seat/head restraint combinations we evaluated didn't make it to the testing stage because of marginal or poor geometry. The auto manufacturers have been working to improve this aspect of head restraint design.

It's attracting a lot of attention for distinctive styling, ... but the bumpers aren't praiseworthy.

Ford has been doing a good job with some of its recent seat designs such as those in the Freestyle SUV and Five Hundred sedan. But the new Ranger head restraint is more than three inches below the top of the head of an average-size man. This means it won't begin to provide adequate protection for many taller people in rear-end crashes. It's puzzling why Ford decided that buyers of the new Ranger should get less protection against whiplash than people in some of its other vehicles.

It's disappointing that so many minivan seats are rated poor for rear impact protection,

The institute's side-impact test mimics a real-world crash in which a pickup or SUV runs a red light or stop sign and strikes a vehicle in the side. The A6's double best-pick performance, especially, is the kind we hope to see every time we test a vehicle.

In each of the top-performing minivans, the curtain airbags did a good job of keeping the dummies' heads from being struck by the intruding barrier. This is important because head injuries are factors in many serious side impact crashes, especially when the striking vehicle is a pickup or SUV with a tall front end.

If you're not belted in the crash, all of that crash protection built into your car just can't help you.

In the frontal test, the driver's side of the vehicle needs to absorb the energy of the crash and keep the occupant compartment intact, ... The Freestyle's performance is what we like to see. A driver in a real-world crash of this severity would be likely to sustain only minor injuries. The Freestyle is a good performer and a 'best pick' in the frontal test.

The heads of both dummies were protected from being hit by any hard structures, including the intruding test barrier. Side airbags, especially those designed to protect the head, are key in reducing risks to people in side impacts. The Institute's test represents a crash in which the striking vehicle has a tall front end like a pickup or SUV, so head protection is critical.

The frontal offset crash tests aren't providing consumers with much useful information anymore.

The Fusion is a disappointment because it's a brand new design. Ford has done a good job with some other recent models, but the Fusion is at the back of the pack among midsize sedans for overall safety performance.

The Fusion is a disappointment because it's a brand new design.