CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: SUVs were first touted as off the road, ready and rugged, but now they have become more or less America's station wagon. Even so, as CNN's Julie Vallese reports, some of them can take serious punishment and still keep passengers safe.</s>JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are advertised as rough, as rugged and can stand up to destinations without roads. And in the latest round of high-speed crash tests, some manufacturers can now say their vehicles hold up even when the destination is a stationary barrier.</s>BRIAN O'NEILL, PRES., INSURANCE INST. FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: We tested nine new or redesigned mid-size SUVs, and eight of those were rated as good. The one that wasn't good was rated acceptable. So as a group, they performed very well.</s>VALLESE: Of the eight rated good, seven were so good they rated as best picks. According to the Institute, the Toyota 4Runner was the overall best performer of the group, earning good ratings in all areas, structure, injury data and restraint systems. The Honda Pilot and Infinity FX initially had a serious problem.</s>O'NEILL: In both cases, the airbag deployed late. Because of those late deployments, we recorded relatively high forces on the dummy's head.</s>VALLESE: Both manufacturers made changes to the airbag system and asked for a retest. The changes worked the second time, and both were rated good and best picks. (on camera): A good rating in these high-speed crash tests means a belted driver in a similar real world crash would walk away without serious injury. (voice-over): As expected, the car manufacturers responses to the test results were favorable, saying they were pleased and happy to know their own tests were corroborated by the Institute's. When the Institute started testing mid-size SUVs, none were rated good. Now seven years later, 16 current models are rated good, but seven could use improvement with ratings of marginal and poor. Julie Vallese, CNN, Arlington, Virginia.
Crash Tests: High Speed SUVs