Two crossovers, two SUVs, two pickups and the Jeep Wrangler are among the vehicles deemed the most dangerous in America by the business blog 24/7 Wall Street. The website analyzed safety data compiled by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Consumer Reports, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration and J.D. Power.
"The cars with the worst scores most commonly received poor grades in the rollover and rear-impact tests," writes Michael B. Sauter of 24/7 Wall Street. Those include the Ram 1500, Mazda CX-7 and CX-9, Chevrolet Colorado Crew Cab, Suzuki SX4, Nissan Pathfinder and Jeep Wrangler.
Each of these vehicles received poor or marginal ratings by the IIHS in two of the four categories it uses for crash-test evaluation. The four categories are: a head-on crash traveling at 40 mph; a side-impact crash with a 3,300-pound object hitting the vehicle at 31 mph; a rollover test in which a metal plate strikes the corner of the vehicle until it rolls over; and a rear-impact test, which gauges seat and seat belt protection against whiplash. Additionally, five of the seven most dangerous vehicles were low scorers in the J.D. Power overall Initial Quality Study, scoring three or fewer points out of five.
The IIHS's side-impact test results for the Colorado Crew Cab were particularly grim; the vehicle has received a poor rating in this category each year since 2004. The Jeep Wrangler, too, ranked poor for side impact from 2007 to 2012 and ranked marginal, the second-lowest rating, from 1997 to 2006. . .
Read the rest at editorial.autos.msn.com
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