The
Safest Vehicles Choices for New Car Buyers
Safety
is the number one priority for most drivers when they set out to purchase a new
vehicle. With continuous advances in vehicle safety technology, more and more
cars on the market are becoming safer options for purchasing drivers.
Each
year the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety puts the model year's newest vehicles
through a list of rigorous testing to determine just how safe they are. Following
the testing, the Institute selects its Top Safety Picks, recognizing vehicles
that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, and rear crashes based
on ratings in the Institute's tests. Safety Pick winners also have to be equipped
with electronic stability control (ESC), which research shows can significantly
reduce the risk of crashing.
After testing its vehicles for 2008, results
show that automakers have more than doubled the number of vehicles that meet Top
Safety Pick criteria.
 According
to Adrian Lund, Institute president, vehicle manufacturers are producing and redesigning
safer vehicle models throughout the production year.
For the 2008 model year,
13 models qualified as Top Safety Picks in the second half of 2007. However, changes
and reintroductions allowed 10 additional vehicles to qualify by 2008. Just recently,
another 11 vehicles were added to the growing list for 2008.
This ever-changing
list of safe winners makes it easier for consumers to identify vehicles that afford
the best overall protection without sifting through multiple sets of comparative
crash test results.
"For 2008, consumers have the widest selection
of vehicles they've ever had that afford the best protection in the most common
kinds of crashes," Lund said.
Crashes
tested for by the Institute include front and side impacts, which are the most
common kinds of fatal crashes. According to the Institute, nearly 25,000 of the
31,000 people who died in car crashes in 2005 were involved in front or side impacts.
Incredibly common rear-end crashes aren't typically fatal, but they result in
a large proportion of the injuries that occur in crashes. Studies show that nearly
60 percent of the insurance injury claims in 2002 alone were for minor neck sprains
and strains caused by rear-end crashes.
According to Institute officials,
the 2008 Top Safety Pick models have features that allow them to absorb dangerous
impacts, or even avoid them altogether.
2008
Safety Pick Winners
Large
Cars
Audi A6
Cadillac CTS
Ford Taurus*
Mercury Sable*
Volvo
S80
Midsize Cars
Audi A3
Audi A4
Honda Accord**
Saab
9-3
Subaru Legacy*
Midsize Convertibles
Saab 9-3
Volvo
C70
Small Cars
Subaru Impreza*
Minivans
Honda
Odyssey
Hyundai Entourage
Kia Sedona
Midsize SUVs
Acura
MDX
Acura RDX
BMW X3
BMW X5
Ford Edge
Ford Taurus X
Honda Pilot
Hyundai
Veracruz**
Hyundai Santa Fe
Infiniti EX35
Lincoln MKX
Mercedes M Class
Saturn
Vue***
Subaru Tribeca
Toyota Highlander
Volvo XC90
Small
SUVs
Honda CR-V
Honda Element
Subaru Forester
Large
Trucks
Toyota Tundra How
the vehicles are evaluated
The
Institute's frontal crashworthiness evaluations are based on results of frontal
offset crash tests at 40 mph. Each vehicle's overall evaluation is based on measurements
of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury measures from a Hybrid III
dummy in the driver seat and analysis of slow-motion film to assess how well the
restraint system controlled dummy movement during the test. Each vehicle's overall
side evaluation is based on performance in a crash test in which the side of the
vehicle is struck by a barrier moving at 31 mph, representing the front end of
a pickup or SUV. Ratings reflect injury measures recorded on two instrumented
SID-IIs dummies, assessment of head protection countermeasures and the vehicle's
structural performance during the impact.
Injury measures obtained from
the two dummies — one in the driver seat and the other in the back seat behind
the driver — are used to determine the likelihood that a driver and/or passenger
in a real-world crash would have sustained serious injury. Seats with good or
acceptable restraint geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures
forces on the neck. This test simulates a collision in which a stationary vehicle
is struck in the rear at 20 mph.
Source —
Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety
* with optional electronic stability
control
** built after Aug. 2007
*** built after Dec. 2007
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