Honda Motor Co. will improve the safety of its cars through realistic crash tests involving multiple cars colliding at various angles, Hiroyuki Yoshino, president of the major Japanese automaker, said Wednesday.

"Automakers must strive for traffic safety in the real world," he said. Yoshino made the comment at a press conference at the Honda R&D Center in the town of Haga, Tochigi Prefecture, where Honda unveiled its indoor omnidirectional Real World Crash Test Facility.

The new facility allows for car-to-car crash tests from all directions. In line with its efforts to improve safety technologies, Honda also unveiled its second-generation pedestrian crash-test dummy, named POLAR II.

At a height of 175 cm and a weight of 75 kg, POLAR II accurately simulates the impact mechanics of the human body during car-pedestrian collisions and will help Honda develop new safety technologies that reduce pedestrian injuries, the carmaker said.

Honda will allow research and development institutes and even rival automakers at home and abroad to use POLAR II in their efforts to improve safety technologies.

'No interest' in Rover

Honda Motor Co. President Hiroyuki Yoshino said Wednesday he is "not interested" in helping Rover, the money-losing British automaker sold by Germany's BMW AG to a British consortium Tuesday.

Yoshino denied a news report that the Phoenix consortium is talking to Honda to work out a business collaboration with Rover, saying, "I have not heard such a thing at all."

Honda, which used to own an equity stake in Rover, "will have to at least listen" to Rover if it is asked to help, Yoshino said.

But he remained reluctant to offer help, saying Honda is "fully occupied with problems of our own company." Honda is experiencing falling capacity utilization at its British plant, he said.

Toyoda's U.S. facility

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Toyoda Machine Works Ltd., a major auto parts maker, announced Wednesday that it has set up a U.S. subsidiary in South Carolina to manufacture and supply auto parts to Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers.

Toyoda Koki Automotive South Carolina is wholly owned, capitalized at $1 million and operates a 10,000-sq.-meter factory. It will begin production in May 2002 with a staff of about 20, the company said.

The factory will supply Ford Motor with parts for its four-wheel-drive vehicles. It will also make components for the automatic transmission systems of Toyota Motor vehicles, the company said.

The company has set a goal of 3 billion yen in sales for its initial year of U.S. operations. It aims to attain sales of between 5 billion yen and 7 billion yen for fiscal 2005, by which time it expects to have up to 80 employees.