It's getting more difficult to earn a Top Safety Pick from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The IIHS raised the bar for its 2014 rating, and as a result, just 39 vehicles earned either a Top Safety Pick+ or Top Safety Pick compared to 130 vehicles in 2013.
The main difference, says IIHS President Adrian Lund in a statement, is that the “small overlap front crash is now part of our basic battery of tests, and good or acceptable performance should be part of every vehicle's safety credentials.”
In the small overlap test—introduced in 2012 and intended to replicate what happens when the front corner of a car collides with another vehicle or a stationary object such as a tree—25 percent of a car's front end on the driver side strikes a five-foot-tall rigid barrier at 40 mph.
Last year, for the 2013 ratings, IIHS says, good or acceptable small overlap performance was required only for Top Safety Pick+; vehicles that had good ratings in other tests could still earn Top Safety Pick. In fact, says IIHS, Top Safety Pick+ was introduced last year “to reward automakers that achieved good or acceptable performance in the just-introduced small overlap test….”
For 2014, a good or acceptable small overlap performance is required for Top Safety Pick, while vehicles earning the Top Safety Pick+ designation must also provide front crash prevention systems intended to help drivers avoid rear-ending a stopped or slower-moving vehicle in front of them. IIHS says front crash prevention systems include both warning systems and automatic braking.
Interestingly, with front crash prevention systems spreading so quickly through vehicle fleets, the number of Top Safety Pick+ winners for 2014 (22) outnumbers the list of Top Safety Pick winners (17).
Click “next” to see which vehicles earned Top Safety Pick+ and Top Safety Pick designations.
TOP SAFETY PICK+
(Front crash prevention systems are rated by 1-6 bars, where 1=basic, 2-4=advanced and 5-6=superior)
|Small Cars
|
Honda Civic 4-door
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Basic
|
Mazda 3 (built after October 2013)
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Advanced (two bars)
|
Toyota Prius (built after November 2013)
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
Front Crash Prevention—Advanced (two bars)
Midsize Moderately Priced Cars
|
Ford Fusion
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
Front Crash Prevention—Basic
|
Honda Accord 2-door
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
Front Crash Prevention—Basic
|
Honda Accord 4-Door
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Basic
Midsize Moderately Priced Cars (Continued)
|
Mazda 6
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
Front Crash Prevention—Advanced (two bars)
|
Subaru Legacy
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
Front Crash Prevention—Superior (six bars)
|
Subaru Outback
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
Front Crash Prevention—Superior (six bars)
Midsize Luxury/Near-Luxury Cars
|
Infiniti Q50
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
Front Crash Prevention—Superior (six bars)
|
Lincoln MKZ
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
Front Crash Prevention—Basic
|
Volvo S60
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Superior (five bars)
||Large Luxury Cars
||
Acura RLX
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Advanced (three bars)
|
Volvo S80
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Superior (five bars)
Small SUVs
|
Mazda CX-5 (built after October 2013)
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Advanced (two bars)
|
Mitsubishi Outlander
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Advanced (three bars)
|
Subaru Forester
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Superior (six bars)
Midsize Luxury SUVs
|
Acura MDX
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Advanced (three bars
|
Mercedes-Benz M-Class (built after August 2013)
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Superior (five bars)
|
Volvo XC60
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Superior (five bars)
Midsize SUV
|
Toyota Highlander
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
Front Crash Prevention—Advanced (three bars)
|
Minivan
|
Honda Odyssey
Small Overlap Test—Good
Front Crash Prevention—Basic
TOP SAFETY PICK
|
Minicar
|
Chevrolet Spark
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
|
Small Cars
|
Dodge Dart
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
|
Ford Focus
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
|
Honda Civic 2-door
Small Overlap Test—Good
|
|
Hyundai Elantra
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
||
Scion tC
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
||
Subaru Impreza
Small Overlap Test—Good
|
|
S
ubaru XV Crosstrek
Small Overlap Test—Good
|
|
Midsize Moderately Priced Cars
|
Chrysler 200 4 door
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
|
Dodge Avenger
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
|
|
Kia Optima
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
|
Nissan Altima
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
|
|
Toyota Camry (built after December 2013)
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
|
Volkswagen Passat
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
|
Midsize Luxury/Near-Luxury Car
|
Acura TL
Small Overlap Test—Good
|
Small SUV
|
Mitsubishi Outlander Sport
Small Overlap Test—Acceptable
|
Midsize Luxury SUV
||
Volvo XC90
Small Overlap Test—Good
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
