Tom's BlogAnd the winners of 2016 TOP SAFETY PICKS are …
Vehicle safety is making headlines on a daily basis with recalls being a forefront in the news. However, with each passing year, vehicles are safer than ever before. The 2016 IIHS top safety picks are intended to make it easier for the consumers so that they don’t have to navigate their individual test results. All the work and testing has already been done for YOU, the consumer.
The IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) has stringent guidelines, putting each and every vehicle to the safety test and automakers are working diligently to meet these standards. From 1959 to 2016, IIHS has been testing cars in regards to top safety for you and your family.
Putting Vehicles to the Test
This year, 2016, 61 vehicles qualified for top safety pick, with 48 of those making the cut for top safety + award. Making the cut for this award is NOT easy, as the standards become increasingly higher each year. For example, in order for a vehicle to be chosen as top safety pick, that car must have at least a basic rated front crash prevention system and must have a good rating in the tough small overlap crash test.
1/4 of all serious injuries and fatalities occur in frontal crashes
This fact is the “WHY” behind the significance of the small overlap crash test. In order to receive a high rating, the front end of the vehicle being tested must “manage” the crash energy sustained upon impact, minimizing the risk of injury to the driver.
While earning a top safety pick rating is good, the top safety pick + is the very best! To qualify for this ranking, the vehicle must earn a good rating in all 5 of the crash worthiness tests and must have an advanced or superior rating with regards to front crash prevention. What this means is that the vehicle must have an actual automatic braking system available so if the vehicle senses that a wreck is impending and the driver isn’t responding, the system engages and automatically brakes the vehicle to prevent a crash or at least lessen the severity of a crash.
And the Winner is…TOYOTA!!
Toyota was the leader amongst all the manufacturers, winning 9 top safety + awards. Also in the top, but not quite matching the efforts of Toyota, were Honda, Subaru, Volvo, and Volkswagen Audi. For a list of all the results, you may go to source article at iihs.org to see which vehicles reflected and earned crash worthiness and crash avoidance top scores.
With each passing year, vehicles will get safer due to stringent guidelines, increased technology, and strong efforts on IIHS behalf as well as the manufacturers’. The goal of IIHS is to keep you and your family safe should an accident happen.
