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Cobalt Scores Well in Highway Safety's Crash Tests
"LORDSTOWN, Ohio -- The program engineering manager-small car for General Motors Corp., Gary F. Altman, was here today from Warren, Mich., to bask in the news that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rated the Chevrolet Cobalt "acceptable" for side-impact protection."Acceptable" is the institute's second-highest rating and only the Toyota Corolla was rated as highly. The other 14 of the 16 small cars were rated "poor" after the test crashes.The institute stressed that both the Cobalt and Corolla were equipped with optional side airbags. Absent the airbags, they too would have rated "poor."The insurance institute also rated the Cobalt "best pick" in the frontal crash tests conducted on the 16 small cars. "It's a big improvement over the Cavalier," the institute said in its findings. The institute rated the Cavalier "poor" for frontal crashworthiness."The Cobalt's structure held together very well in the frontal test," the insurance institute's chief operating officer, Adrian Lund, said Sunday. "The driver's survival space was maintained and there was minimal to moderate intrusion into the footwell area. The Cobalt is rated good and earned the added designation of 'best pick.' " "The side impact results are similar to the results in 1997 when the institute first rated small cars in the frontal offset crash test," Lund said. "Back then, no small car earned a good frontal crash rating. Now almost every small car earns a good rating in the frontal test."Ordering a Cobalt with the optional airbags adds $395 to its price, Altman said. Two Chevrolet dealers in the area, Diane Martin Chevrolet and Airport Chevrolet, both in Warren, were delighted by the news. The general manager at Airport, Bill Davis, said the $395 additional cost "is a pretty low price," for the protection. "It's a dirt-cheap option," he continued as he lamented the "minimal interest" his customers have shown for the added protection. "I think it's a great option," he commented, good value for the extra money. Just under 30% of the Cobalts in his lot offer the optional airbags, he reported.At Diane Sauer, "over half" of the Cobalts on the lot have the optional side airbags, sales manager John Maze reported. "Almost 100%" of the loaded Cobalts offer the airbags, he said, while the "price leaders," that is, Cobalts carrying fewer options, have the side airbags.In the crash tests, the cars are stationary as a moving deformable barrier strikes them at 40 mph in the frontal crash tests, at 31 mph in the side collisions, Lund said.The insurance institute's ratings are prompting GM to reconsider making the optional side airbags standard equipment, Altman said. "Small cars are going through an evolution," he said. "We're looking at making the side airbags standard."The crash tests GM conducts on its models are basically the same as those the insurance institute conducts, he said. "We do more stringent tests in-house," he elaborated. "We're always trying to make the safest cars we can.""