Most midsize U.S. car bumpers fail test

ARLINGTON, Va., March 1 (UPI) -- Most midsize U.S. car bumpers do not prevent costly damage in low-speed collisions such as in parking lots, an auto insurance research group said Thursday.

Only three midsize cars -- the Mitsubishi Galant, Toyota Camry and Mazda 6 -- among 17 tested withstood four bumper tests with damage less than $1,500 a crash, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said.

The tests involved full-frontal and full-rear collisions at 6 mph and front-corner and rear-corner collisions at 3 mph.

Some cars had more than $4,500 in damage in just one of the four tests, and two cars -- the Volkswagen Jetta and Nissan Maxima -- sustained more than $9,000 in all four tests, the institute said.

"The whole purpose of bumpers is to keep damage away from headlights, hoods and other parts that are expensive to repair," institute President Adrian Lund said. "What we found is that bumpers aren't up to the job."

U.S. fender-bender insurance claims of less than $4,500 add up to more than $6 billion a year, the institute said.