Chrysler Disagrees With IIHST

This is the Reuters story concerning the poor crash ratings of an insurance industry research firm has given its lowest ratings to a Chrysler minivan and a Hyundai car for their performance in crash tests. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said Tuesday it gave Chrysler's 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan a poor rating for crashworthiness after a fuel leak developed after a crash test. The U.S. arm of DaimlerChrysler AG agreed to change a part that attaches to the gas tank, a move the Insurance Institute said would raise the rating of 2002 models to acceptable. But Chrysler said it could not recreate the problem in more than 50 tests on its own, and that no recall of current models was necessary. It also said the amount of fuel that leaked was so small -- about two tablespoons per minute -- that investigators from the institute did not notice the leak until they turned the vehicle over. The Insurance Institute also gave Hyundai Motors Corp.'s Elantra small car a poor rating because in two out of three tests, the driver's air bag deployed too late in the impact. In one test, the crash dummy's head hit the steering wheel. The firm's tests differ from those run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which does full frontal crash tests. The agency gave the Dodge Grand Caravan four out of five stars for front crashworthiness."

EDitors Note:Chrysler tests do not agree ewith these findings. We will more on this story later