New Bumpers Pass Test

Upgraded bumpers on three popular foreign cars have sharply reduced the costs of repairs after low-speed collisions, an insurance industry research institute said Thursday.

Nissan and Volkswagen upgraded both the front and rear bumpers on their Maxima and Passat models while Toyota improved the rear bumpers on its Lexus LS 400. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said that when it retested the bumpers in 5 mph crashes, the repair costs were substantially lower.

The institute tests cars by driving them straight into a flat barrier at 5 mph, then repeating the test at an angle. It also backs the car straight into the barrier at 5 mph and backs it into a pole.

Repairing the damage from those four tests would cost the owner of a 1995 model Nissan Maxima $3,844, compared with $1,220 for the 1998 model, the institute said.

On the Passat, the damage dropped from $3,265 on the 1995 model to $933 on the 1998 model. And on the Lexus LS 400, the cost dropped from $6,086 for the 1997 model to $3,617 for the 1998 model.