Genaral Motors
At GM, we place a high priority on providing our customers with value, not only at the time that they purchase their vehicle, but throughout their ownership experience. The bumper tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) provide an assessment of damage protection to the vehicle in common, low-speed collisions.
The 2004 Chevrolet Malibu and TrailBlazer met or exceeded all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and the bumper performance requirements identified in 49 CFR, Part 581, the U.S. bumper regulation.
These vehicles possess features and design attributes that are intended to appeal to their target markets. Among those, they offer crash avoidance features such as antilock brakes and daytime running lamps and occupant protection features such as dual level front air bags and center rear lap and shoulder safety belts. The Malibu offers head curtain side air bags, and it uses high-strength steel and tailor-welded steel reinforcements to provide exceptional structural integrity for the “safety cage” passenger compartment and outstanding impact protection for the front, rear and sides.
Nissan
We believe the Nissan Altima and Murano perform competitively in terms of cost of repair. Obviously, the cost to repair bumpers is only one consideration. These tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are conducted to determine cost estimates to repair damage incurred in low speed bumper impact tests and are not related to safety. We believe it’s difficult for these tests to accurately reflect the various conditions experienced by driver’s everyday. In the event of a crash, all Nissan products are engineered to meet and surpass the safety regulations established by the federal government as well as pass our own rigorous internal safety requirements.
Cost of ownership and repair is an important part of vehicle ownership and at Nissan we take our commitment to customer satisfaction very seriously. We design each new model to resist low-speed collision damage. We will study the results of this new test conducted by the Institute and will continue to work closely with major insurance companies to keep premiums low for our customers.
Ford
Ford Motor Company designs all of its vehicle bumper systems to perform well in the company's stringent internal testing. These 10-mph tests by IIHS are conducted to determine cost estimates to repair damage incurred in low speed bumper impacts and are not related to occupant safety. The Ford Taurus and Explorer are extremely safe vehicles based on both Ford testing and real world data.