When it comes to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s way of conducting crash tests, there’s only one thing every manufacturer out there wants. That is a Top Safety Pick+ rating.
The IIHS most recent (and final) crash tests for 2016 reveal that Toyota and Lexus are the undisputed leaders in the realm of safety. For the third year in a row, if I may add. Volvo, meanwhile, earned the recognition as the leader among European automakers with the most Top Safety Pick+ ratings.
Let’s start with Volvo. For the 2017 model year, the IIHS tested the S60, V60, XC60, S90, and the XC90, i.e. the manufacturer’s compact- and mid-size sedans, wagons, and crossover SUVs. And yes, all five of them qualified for Top Safety Pick+. The Swedish company underlines that a report from the IIHS showed that vehicles equipped with Volvo City Safety reduced rear-end crashes by 43 percent and those with injuries by 45 percent.
Toyota and Lexus, however, have even more reasons to celebrate. For the 2017 model year, TSP+ winners include the Prius, Prius v, Corolla, Camry, RAV4, ES 350, NX, RX, and RX. Models that didn’t make it past Top Safety Pick include the Yaris iA, Avalon, and CT 200h. Pretty impressive results considering how old some of these models are, if I may say. “At Toyota, our focus remains on the safety and peace of mind of our customers,” said Dino Triantafyllos, Toyota’s chief quality officer for the North American region.
As a brief refresher, the performance of automatic braking systems weighs as much as headlight performance in the institute’s rating. "The field of contenders is smaller this year because so few vehicles have headlights that do their job well, but it's not as small as we expected when we decided to raise the bar for the awards," explained Adrian Lund, the IIHS’ president.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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