When cars and sport utility vehicles literally bump into one another in stop-and-go traffic or in parking lots, their owners should prepare for a financial hit that could reach $6,000, according to new tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  Because S.U.V.’s and other light trucks are not subject to the same federal bumper standards as cars, their bumpers generally don’t line up. That means what should be minor fender-benders can lead to huge repair bills, according to the institute, which is financed by the insurance industry.  The institute said these costs get passed along to the consumer through higher deductibles and premiums.  “In the end, people are paying more for insurance than they have to because of excess damage caused by mismatched bumpers,” said Joe Nolan, the institute’s chief administrative officer.  Recently, the institute conducted low-speed bumper crash tests of small S.U.V.’s and small cars. The tests involved seven pairs of 2010 and 2011 models; each pair was made by the same manufacturer.  In the tests, an S.U.V going 10 miles per hour struck the back of a parked car from the same manufacturer. Then the reverse took place: the car hit the back of the S.U.V.  The cost of repairing the damage varied from a low of $850 to a high of $6,015.  The findings are similar to what the institute found when it did similar tests between midsize cars and midsize S.U.V.’s in 2004 and in 2008.  The institute acknowledged that it conducted these new tests to highlight what it sees as a problem and to “prod the government to finally take action” on a petition it filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2008 to regulate bumpers on light trucks the same as the agency does with cars.  The federal standard requires car bumpers to be 16 to 20 inches from the ground.  N.H.T.S.A. has not regulated light truck bumpers because it might make it difficult to use the vehicles as intended, Karen Aldana, a N.H.T.S.A. spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail.  For example, requiring an S.U.V.’s bumper to be of similar height to that of a car might be a handicap when the S.U.V. is taken off-road.  The institute responded that few people take their S.U.V.s off-road and that other equipment lower than bumpers, like air dams, are what interfere with rock crawling.  The reason the bumper heights should be similar is that bumpers are the first line of defense in low-speed collisions to keep the body of a vehicle and its safety-related parts, like headlights, from being damaged, said Mr. Nolan of the institute.  When the Nissan Rogue’s front bumper didn’t line up with the Nissan Sentra’s rear bumper, the result was $4,560 in damage to the Sentra’s bumper cover, trunk lid and rear body. But the Sentra inflicted $2,884 in damage, making it impossible for the Rogue, with its crushed, leaking radiator, to be driven away.  The least amount of damage ($850) was done to the Hyundai Tucson when it crashed into the rear of the Kia Forte, but the Forte had $3,223 in damages.  The most damage of $6,015 was done to the Toyota RAV4 when it was hit in the rear by the Corolla, which sustained $3,852 in damages.  Instead of engaging a strong bumper, the Corolla hit the spare tire mounted on the RAV4’s tailgate and damaged the Corolla’s hood, grille, headlights, air-conditioner and radiator support. The Corolla crushed the RAV4’s tailgate and rear body panels.  The institute said the bumpers on the Honda CR-V and Civic were the most compatible in the test in which the CR-V struck the rear of the Civic. Because of that, damage to the CR-V was $1,721 and $1,274 to the Civic. However, when the Civic hit the CR-V the bumpers seemed to be less compatible, with the car sustaining $4,921 in damage and the S.U.V. $1,053.  In response to the institute’s 2008 petition, N.H.T.S.A. published a Request for Comments notice in the Federal Register in June 2009 with the comment period ending in August.  “We are completing our analysis of those responses along with other data available to us and will announce our decision upon completion of our review,” Ms. Aldana wrote.  For more bumper test results, go here.
In auto crashes, bumpers are meant to absorb some of the impact, but vehicles sustain more damage if the bumpers are mismatched.