Saturn Tweaks Vue Airbags, Now Tops Side-Impact Tests

Crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are so important to gaining sales that automakers will tweak an existing design to get a top rating. That’s exactly what Saturn did after its new Vue SUV earned just an Average rating — the second best — in side-impact crash tests conducted by IIHS. To get a top rating of Good, Saturn redesigned its side curtain airbags to protect the heads of rear passengers. After the change, it passed a subsequent test.

Interestingly enough, in the original test there were no injuries even though the airbags didn’t deploy accurately enough. The redesigned airbags will be installed in all Vues produced after December 2007, or from January 2008 on. You can find the build date of a Saturn Vue on a sticker on the driver’s door jam, near the tire ratings. Dealers should also be able to find the build date on the vehicle’s invoice.

With these changes, the 2008 Saturn Vue gets the IIHS' highest honor as a Top Safety Pick.

Comments

[Michael Nartolli]

This article is a great example of why I no longer even consider buying from Detroit. What do the VUE buyers prior to December do? Why didn't GM get the design the right way the first time around?

[ZB]

Michael Nartolli won't buy Detroit cars.

It is kind of amazing why Americans have such a love affair with foreign cars. Most Americans view our own cars as less than worthy.

I'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, buy another foreign car. I've owned three foreign cars and whatever love affair existed at the time is long gone. Long gone!!

Foreigners really do have a nice thing going. We continue to buy their super, wonderful cars at market prices and then they buy our real-estate at discount prices. Ain't that great?

When is the last time you bought a new VW at a discount price? A Saturn VUE at a discount price? Of course, no American would even want such a crappy car.

One in five homes in America is currently being bought by a foreigner. What's nice to know is that foreigners can buy American homes without restrictions yet many foreign countries sometimes place certain restrictions when Americans buy property. Ain't that great?

No one should get a FREE RIDE in this country, especially non-Americans.

Let's just hope at least one foreigner will buy a Saturn Vue to park in the garage of his/her new American home. I kind of doubt it. Just a hunch.

[ermatthe]

I don't understand how this can be used as a negative against GM. The Saturn Vue was not the only vehicle that didn't score perfect because of side airbags. A list of all of the vehicles and their scores was posted not too long ago.
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2007/11/34-vehicles-get.html#more

GM is just the first that's been reported to update their design so that they can get better ratings.

Sounds like a good thing to me.

By the way, there are a number of foreign vehicle listed in the needs improvement half of that list.

[Dave T.]

It is very important to note the line that there were no injuries before the redesign during the testing. Meaning that the end result would probably be the same to the passenger = no injuries. However, they couldn't get the top score because of the design flaw. They fixed the design flaw to get a better score. It's a pretty good idea to me. Also "Average" is second best or equivalent to 4 stars from NHTSA. It's not a failure by any means.

ZB,
I agree with you on all the car stuff ( don't know much about the real estate stuff). American cars also have to do EVERYTHING better and cheaper than the imports or they are not worthy. I have read articles where the Taurus is raked across the coals for having stability Control optional (its already the cheapest car in the category) but I have never read about the legacy having it optional- a smaller car from a company that touts its safety and costs just as much and in some cases more. Little things like that. Look at how many more expensive imports are "also rans" in the link posted by ermantthe- I bet Michael Nartolli wouldn't think twice before before buying one of those.

I just don't think there should be a double standard and credit should be given where its due. That's all.

[Paul]

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I agree with Nartolli. I bought American, I bought a Honda Accord. It's my fifth Accord and none of them have ever given me any issues and I tend to drive them until 140k. Unlike three GM vehicles I had in the past that all literally fell apart at 60k miles. Based on GM's reputation for poor quality they do have to build it better for at least five years before I would consider them. And in that five years the GM dealers would have to be retrained by the Honda dealers on how to stop lying and take responsibility. I'm a partner in a mid-size firm and we have filed our fair share of lemon law claims. In our experience no one comes clsoe to GM, Chrysler and VW for the number of lemons they turn out. In the past eight years I only recall 1 Honda, 1 Nissan, and 2 Toyota cases. All of those were settled before enacting the lemon law process.

[ZB]

American car manufacturers are at an extreme disadvantage because they have to pay workers' health insurance. That's a biggie.

There's no question American car manufacturers dropped the ball decades ago. As a consequence of incompetent executives, foreign car manuafacturers set up shop here. This arrangement is really not in our best interest.

Honda and Toyota drivers may save thousands year after year but ultimately our American economy suffers. Lower corporate tax revenue means higher taxes. Whatever money Toyota and Honda drivers are saving doesn't stay in their checking account very long. Many good paying American jobs are esentially gone. Look at Detroit with tens of thousands of foreclosed homes. Granted, mortgage companies are in the equation, but there's huge job losses in Detroit.

Corporate incompetence and bad leadership in Washington, especially the last 7-years, is really sad. This country is not the country I once knew.

Foreigners buying our real-estate at discount prices does upset me. I think these foreign home sales should be taxed. Our country is slowly going broke and we do need the revenue.

Repairing foreign cars is really expensive. Repairing American cars ain't cheap, but it it's even more expenive if you own a foreign car. A minor fender bender in Acura can cost a huge amount of money. I guess some of these bumpers can cost $7,000.

[Sanchez]

Actually in the nineties I had a Corsica and a Civic and the most expensive repair in the Corsica was $150, but the few ones I had with the Civic were very expensive, transmission included.

I lived in Europe in the eighties, and one of the problems Japanese manufacturers had there was that people were worried about the price and avalaibility of parts. I believe this has been solved, but the old say there is Japanese car, Merc or BMW, too expensive to drive and maintain.

[ZB]

Wow! Most expensive Corsica repair bill was $150. You must have owned the car for just a couple of months.