CHICAGO – Federal safety regulators are exploring a handling test that would assess new vehicles’ turning capability, steering responsiveness and road-holding ability and rate the performance of electronic stability control systems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is researching the idea by running five vehicles through a battery of dynamic tests using drivers for some and robot-controlled steering for others.

NHTSA has not set a time frame for developing a test but said it would not be this year.

If adopted, a handling test would become part of NHTSA’s consumer information program, like rollover ratings, and not a safety standard automakers would have to meet.

NHTSA this year began evaluating the rollover potential of vehicles by adding an aggressive test that simulates accident avoidance at speeds of 35 to 50 mph.

NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey Runge said he wants to give consumers more information and prod automakers to improve the overall safety of their vehicles, not just score better in the test.

“We want to reduce fatalities,” Runge said. “We don’t want manufacturers to finely hone their vehicles just to do well in this test.”

NHTSA also is looking at ways to evaluate the performance of electronic stability control, which can prevent skids by applying the brakes and reducing power. Several manufacturers offer stability control, but there is no standard or test to judge the effectiveness of the systems available.

David Champion, automotive testing director for Consumer Reports, said the magazine has been pushing NHTSA to develop a handling test for years “based on what we’ve seen in our tests.”

Automakers can equip their cars to do well in a rollover test such as NHTSA’s, which is what Runge says the agency doesn’t want them to do. But Champion says choosing tires “that don’t have much lateral grip” will keep a vehicle from tipping but will not provide optimum handling.

Such tires allow a vehicle to slide in the rollover test instead of grabbing the pavement and tipping up onto two wheels. Vehicles are penalized in NHTSA’s ratings if their wheels leave the pavement in the rollover test, which includes abrupt steering changes to the left and then the right. Test results, which include a star rating, percentage likelihood of a rollover in a single-vehicle crash and whether the vehicle tipped, were released this month.

“They may not pick up a wheel in the test, but they prove to be less than stellar performers in everyday driving because they don’t grip well,” Champion said.

Ford Motor Co. spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said Ford chooses tires that perform in a variety of everyday driving situations and a tire with too much grip could cause a vehicle to tip too easily in evasive maneuvers.

“Striking the right balance is a challenge for automakers,” Kinley said.

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(c) 2004, Chicago Tribune.

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AP-NY-08-20-04 0616EDT