The 2013 Honda Accord coupe is the fourth car to earn perfect marks in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash testing, according to results newly posted to the NHTSA website.
The two-door Accord joins the Cadillac ATS and Volvo S60 entry-luxury sedans and the Chevrolet Camaro coupe at earning five out of five stars in every category and subcategory of the NHTSA evaluations – driver and front-passenger protection in a 35-mph frontal impact, driver and rear-passenger protection in a 38.5-mph side impact, driver protection in a 20-mph side impact into a pole, and a mathematical rollover resistance computation.
The Accord sedan, which had been tested previously, is one of a growing number of current cars to earn a five-star overall rating in the NHTSA tests -- factoring in performance in all the subcategories. But although the sedan got mostly top scores, it earned four out of five stars in the frontal crash test. The coupe has five stars across the board.
The Accord sedan is also one of just four cars -- one of the others being the Accord-based Acura TL -- to earn a top score of Good in a challenging new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety frontal crash test, which forces a small portion of a car's front end to absorb the full impact of a crash. The coupe, meanwhile, was judged Acceptable -- the second-highest score -- in that test.
Two other cars newly tested by NHTSA also earned five-star overall ratings from that agency: the Toyota Avalon full-size sedan and the electric version of the Ford Focus compact hatchback.
The Avalon earned a five-star overall rating, but narrowly -- it got top marks in the side-impact crash test, but four out of five stars for the side-pole impact test, the frontal test and the rollover resistance computation.
The electric Focus came closer to the Accord coupe's perfect marks, earning five stars overall for frontal- and side-impact protection, and the rollover resistance calculation. It was marked down only for front-passenger protection in the frontal crash test, earning four out of five stars there. The gas-powered Focus also has a five-star overall rating, but it's a bit farther from a perfect score than the electric version.
These NHTSA tests, conducted under the New Car Assessment Program, are more challenging than the requirements all cars must pass to go on sale in the U.S. NHTSA's tests complement safety evaluations from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which tests cars in similar but not identical crash scenarios.
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