When it comes to buying a crash-worthy convertible, paying more doesn't always get you more, researchers have found.
With starting prices above $39,000, the BMW 3 Series and the Audi A4 Cabriolet were among the most expensive of 10 ragtops tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, yet they placed near the bottom of the safety rankings.
The institute rated the costly Saab 9-3 and the Volvo C70 -- which list at between $35,000 and $40,000 -- as the convertibles giving occupants the best chances of surviving accidents.
But entries from Volkswagen and Mitsubishi priced below $30,000 got high marks too.
"While the top two Safety Pick winners are relatively expensive, price doesn't necessarily predict good crash test ratings," the institute said in a report due to be released today.
The institute, an industry-funded research body, publishes crash-test ratings in an effort to push auto makers to design safer vehicles.
Because convertibles are aimed at a niche market, the institute had never performed crash tests on them. Sales of drop-tops have accelerated in recent years, convincing the group that the time had come.
Institute President Adrian Lund said the group "also wanted to evaluate a group of vehicles that automakers wouldn't expect us to test to see if crashworthiness improvements in mainstream cars also are being built into convertibles."
"For the most part," he said, "we found that this was happening."
The vehicles were tested for their ability to protect occupants during front, side and rear-end impacts at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.
The lowest-rated car was the Pontiac G6 from General Motors Corp., which received "marginal" ratings for both side and rear collisions and an "acceptable" rating for head-on impacts. The car's compartment held up well during the frontal crash, the institute reported, but the driver's seat came loose on one side, causing a crash dummy's head to slide around the air bag and hit the dashboard.
"We've rarely seen a dummy's head hit the instrument panel in our frontal test," Lund said.
GM said the Pontiac convertible was in compliance with all federal safety standards. Although the seat moved during the test, it "remained in place and provided good protection," the automaker said.
The Audi 4 and BMW 3 series convertibles performed well in the institute's front-end tests but received marginal ratings for side crashes and poor ratings for rear-end impacts.
