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GM Statement Regarding IIHS Crash Test Results

General Motors midsize vans and compact pickup trucks offer excellent real-world crashworthiness and comprehensive safety before, during and after a crash. GM conducts dozens of real and computerized crash tests on every new vehicle and meets or exceeds all federal safety standards.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety offset barrier crash tests of our 2005 crossover sport vans - the Chevrolet Uplander, Buick Terraza, Saturn Relay and Pontiac Montana SV6 - and extended-cab compact pickup trucks - Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon - bear this out by earning the institute's highest rating of "Good" for both vehicles tested.

This IIHS test - which replicates the force of two vehicles of the same weight both traveling almost 40 miles an hour when they collide with each other - is extremely rare in real-world driving. In fact, it represents less than 1 percent of all crashes in which vehicles must be towed away, based on National Automotive Sampling System statistics.

GM's 1997-to-early 2005 model year minivans have an excellent real-world safety performance, and led the van segment in offering side-impact airbags and other safety features such as daytime running lamps shown to reduce vehicle-pedestrian collisions by up to 15 percent. Later year models offered the OnStar safety and security system.

The offset barrier crash test on the previous model passenger vans - Pontiac Trans Sport, Chevrolet Venture and Oldsmobile Silhouette - was first conducted when both the vans and the IIHS test were newly introduced.