Another good news for Audi

[Louis-Alain Richard]

INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY

Fender bender crash tests give BMW Mini Cooper and Suzuki Aerio low ratings, Audi A4 and Toyota Corolla high ones/b>
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released results of low-speed crash tests on five cars Tuesday, showing that the Suzuki Aerio was rated "poor," the BMW Mini Cooper "marginal," and the larger Audi A4 and Toyota Corolla "good." The Honda Accord was ranked "acceptable" in the tests.

The average damage in the four crashes was a high of $1131 for the Suzuki Aerio and a low of $216 on the Audi A4. The tests ran the cars into a flat barrier with the front and rear bumpers, into an angled barrier with the front bumper, and into a pole with the rear bumper, mimicking the kind of impact often experienced in parking-lot accidents. IIHS official Adrian Lund called the Aerio's bumpers "expensive decorative trim" and said the Mini Cooper's bumpers "weren't praiseworthy."

In contrast, he complimented Audi's engineers for their attention to bumper design—the A4 sustained zero damage in the flat-barrier tests—and said the Corolla's bumpers did a "reasonably good job."