DATE: Friday, July 25, 1997                 TAG: 9707250689

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   24 lines

SAFETY OFFICIALS REJECT VEHICLE RECALL REQUEST

Federal highway safety officials on Thursday rejected a request to recall some Isuzu Troopers and Acura SLXs because of a report that the sport utility vehicles are prone to tipping over in sudden turns.

Last summer, Consumer Reports magazine branded the 1995-96 Isuzu Troopers and 1996 Acura SLXs, nearly identical sport utility vehicles, with its rare ``not acceptable'' rating.

Consumers Union, which publishes the reports, asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate the models and order the companies to recall them.

But agency officials decided not to undertake a formal investigation after putting the Trooper through their own tests involving sudden turns, reviewing the Consumers Union tests and computer simulations and assessing real-world rollover-crash data. KEYWORDS: RECALL SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES TIP

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