Toyota Motor Corp., whose cars and trucks have helped set industry standards for affordable safety, had two of the worst performers in crash tests of the new subcompact sedans that are growing in popularity as motorists seek better gas mileage.
The 2007 models of Toyota's basic Yaris sedan and its boxy Scion xB wagon received the lowest scores as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for the first time rated so-called mini-cars from five automakers.
The crash tests by the nonprofit insurance institute are more rigorous than federal tests and are more respected by consumer groups. Insurers created the institute decades ago and its crash tests have become the industry's big stick for pressuring automakers into building safer vehicles.
Nissan Motor Co.'s subcompact Versa received the insurance institute's top rating, but institute President Adrian Lund said none of the cars tested provided stellar protection when hit by larger vehicles.
"Tests like these are going to set small cars back a half-decade," said industry analyst Eric Noble of CarLab. The Orange firm specializes in product testing and development consulting for automakers.
"Toyota doesn't usually make mistakes," Noble said, "but it was foolish of them to bring over small cars designed for the Japanese market," where cars and trucks are much smaller than those in the U.S.
The crash test results, to be released by the Virginia-based insurance institute today, found the Versa best among 2007-model mini-cars in protecting occupants in front-, rear- and side-impact collisions. It received "good" ratings, the institute's top score, in all three tests.
The Nissan subcompact was designed for the European and North American markets and is longer, wider and heavier than other cars in what the insurance institute calls the mini-car class, or those that weigh less than 2,500 pounds.
Honda Motor Co.'s Fit subcompact was rated "good" in the 40-mpg front and 31-mph side crashes, but inadequate seats and head restraints earned it a "poor," the institute's worst score, in protecting occupants from injury in a 20-mph rear-end collision.
Both the Versa and the Fit are sold with side-curtain air bags as standard equipment. The bags pop out from above the vehicles' side windows to provide protection against head and torso injuries in side crashes.
