Honda Odyssey, Safest Minivan for 2011

As a testimony to the way in which Honda's new Odyssey minivan has been designed, two of America's most renowned safety organizations, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have both given the model their highest scores in the crash test conducted this year. The achievement, in the case of other models not surprising, comes to establish the Odyssey as the first and single minivan to have achieved top scores from both organizations this year.

Both of the organizations crash tested the Odyssey in the beginning of the year, but only now the Japanese car maker can safely say that their vehicle is the best in its class as far as the safety of the occupants go.

The new Odyssey, launched last year, is Honda's take on a segment that, because of the competition, is growing harder and harder to control. Several important players fight for a piece of the market that stands for a whole lot more in the US than in Europe.

Honda's Odyssey, seen by the manufacturer who produces it as one of the most successful minivans it has ever made, is trying to build on the all-American appeal by being designed and engineered in the US and assembled at the Honda Manufacturing of Alabama (HMA) plant, using mostly domestic parts.

For the new model year, Honda has tweaked the model a bit, adding little extras like a more powerful 3.5l i-VTEC V6 engine (248 hp), a new 3-mode second-row seat design or a rear entertainment system with a 16.2-inch ultrawide split-screen display.