Frontal Attack

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday February 16, 2001

Bob Jennings reports.

The cost of repairing similar cars after identical crashes can vary widely. Laboratory crash tests help to reduce the bills - and insurance premiums.

Visualise two cars that look pretty much alike and cost about the same. Then imagine them each running into the back of other cars in a typical urban, low-speed smack. When they are towed away and the dust settles, you'd expect the repair bills to be in the same ball park.

You would be wrong. One owner will face a repair bill 50 per cent higher than the other and, to add insult to injury, will likely have paid a substantially higher insurance premium to begin with.

In identical laboratory crashes, the cost of parts and labour to repair a Hyundai Accent would be $3,247. Its fellow Korean small car, the Kia Rio, would cost almost half as much again: $4,812.

There is a further surprise: bigger cars do not necessarily mean bigger repair bills.

Ford's Falcon Forte has the lowest repair cost of the latest round of NRMA low-speed crash tests and remains the cheapest to repair in the large car class with total repair costs of $2,183. Its Ford stablemate, the Ka city mini, costs more than double that to repair - $4,735.

The NRMA crash test involves swinging a pendulum into the front of a car at a precise speed and a precise place, to duplicate the common urban nose-to-tail impact at

25-30 km/h. The pendulum weighs the same as the car being tested.

In such a crash a Ford Falcon will be 20 per cent cheaper to repair than a Holden Commodore. Typically, and largely as a result, Commodore owners are paying an average of $130 a year more on their insurance premiums.

Outrageous? Yes, if you're a motorist looking at a repair bill or an increase in insurance premiums as a result of a crash.

Isn't someone doing something about it? The NRMA is, and that is the reason for the crash tests to determine the cost of parts and labour for repairs. Increasingly, motorists are reaping the benefits and the Ford Falcon figures are a classic example.

Ford began working with the NRMA in the days of the EL (1996) and ED (1993) models. But the full benefits came in late 1999 with the AU - from the very early stage of its design, measures were taken to reduce the cost of crash damage.

The NRMA's industry research manager, Robert McDonald, said that Holden, aware of the differences in low-speed crash results, had been working closely with the insurer to reduce its costs, and this was expected to bring insurance premiums down.

Already, the cost of repairs between the VT model and VS has been reduced. McDonald, who is consulting increasingly with the car industry here and overseas, alluded to further cost reductions in the pipeline "through some interesting and exciting developments".

He said some makers routinely involve the insurance industry in the early stages of the engineering of new models to reduce the cost of crash repairs without necessarily altering the outward appearance of a vehicle.

"The design of bumper bar mountings and under-bonnet layout such as the positioning of the cooling fan shroud and the location of electrical plugs and connections can have a significant effect on repair costs," he said, adding that relatively simple alterations could lead to substantial savings in repair costs.

For example, a wiring plug at the front of a previous Daihatsu model was prone to damage in a crash but, because of the way it was designed, the entire wiring loom needed to be replaced, at a cost of about $900.

Now, it costs a few dollars for a simple, replaceable plug.

Low-speed, front-end crashes outnumber other types of crashes by about two to one. International standards have been drawn up to ensure uniform testing so that results in one part of the world are valid elsewhere.

McDonald has worked with Ford, Holden, Honda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Peugeot and Subaru, whose latest small-medium Impreza is one of the best in its class for frontal crash repair costs. Previous models were among the worst.

Under the same test regime, repair costs on Mitsubishi's Magna have dropped from $5,500 on the TE model to less than $3,000 on the current TJ series.

"We're lucky here in Australia because of the co-operation between the insurance industry and the car makers," he says. "In the US, for instance, it is much more adversarial."

The NRMA's latest crash tests, involving more than 30 cars, showed that some small vehicles remain the most expensive to repair.

Honda, which had shaken off its reputation as a high-cost vehicle to repair has made a surprise turn for the worse.

Its Civic, formerly one of the best performers, is now one of the worst with a repair cost of $6,199. And the CR-V is among the highest-cost vehicles in the small four-wheel-drive class with a total of $6,076.

Second most expensive small-medium sized car was the Nissan Pulsar, at $6,093 - Nissan has begun discussions with the NRMA on reducing these costs and the next model is expected to reap the benefits.

Hyundai's new Accent was the cheapest small vehicle to repair, with a reduction of about 38 per cent on the cost of parts and labour on its predecessor, the Excel.

McDonald said that structural changes to the bumper bar had resulted in better energy absorption and damage to fewer parts, significantly reducing costs.

There is, of course, a vested interest in this. McDonald observed that it was not in the interest of the insurance companies to make automotive insurance unaffordable. Reduced repair costs mean lower, more attractive premiums.

What a 25 km/h bump will cost you

Ford Ka: $4,736

Second most expensive of the small cars, with parts for the repairs costing $2,874 and labour adding a further $1,862 for a grand total of $4,736. However, the Mitsubishi Mirage has only a slighter lower total cost, at $4,646.

Hyundai Accent: $3,273

Cheapest of the small cars to repair, with required parts costing $1,938 and labour $1,335 for a total of $3,273, a massive 38 per cent cheaper in total than its predecesot, the Excel. Daewoo's Matiz was marginally dearer at $3,489.

Kia Rio: $4,812

A repair bill of $4,812 makes this Korean the second most expensive car in its class, behind the Mazda 121 Metro ($5,464). Parts for the Rio cost $2,996, the highest of any small car; labour added $1,816.

Toyota Echo: $4,077

A mid-range performer in the small car class, the three-door manual hatch has a repair bill of $4,077, representing 24.1 per cent of the original purchase price. The parts bill for this Japanese car was $2,205, and labour, $1,872.

Nissan Pulsar: $6,093

Second most expensive bill in the small-medium car category, with parts costing $3,894 and labour $2,199 for a total of $6,093. That is second only to the Honda Civic, but Nissan is talking to the NRMA about reducing repair costs.

Toyota Corolla: $5,036

On the Seca Accent variant, the total bill was $5,036, about $1,000 dearer than the Echo. Parts cost $3,053 and labour $1,983. However, the total bill was six per cent lower than when previously tested.

Honda Civic: $6,199

Cost of the Vi manual hatch was $6,199, dearest of the small-medium cars and a dramatic 225 per cent increase on the cost of the previous model. Parts were the dearest in its category at $4,147, and labour added $2,052.

Subaru Impreza: $3,551

A major decrease of 49 per cent from the previous model. Parts bill for the RX hatch was the lowest in the small-medium category at $2,121, while the labour to fit them was also the lowest, at $1,430. Total repair bill was $3,551.

Mitsubishi Magna: $2,990

The Executive model has a total repair bill of $2,989. This is slightly cheaper than the rival Commodore ($3,022), and about $1,000 less than the Toyota Avalon. Parts cost $1,660, with labour adding $1,330.

Ford Falcon: $2,183

The Forte was the cheapest in the NRMA's list, with a total repair bill of only $2,183. Parts cost $974, the lowest of any tested - the Falcon was the only car to tally under $1,000. Labour added $1,209.