Mid-cycle updates to strengthen vehicles' roofs have helped expand the list of cars judged "Top Safety Picks" by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, according to crash test data released today.
The organization rates cars based on performance in frontal- and side-impact crash tests, a head restraint evaluation, and a roof strength test. According to the IIHS, a car that earns Top Safety Pick status has demonstrated excellence in simulations of each of the four most common crashes -- a standard now achieved by 115 2012 models the group has tested.
It has become increasingly common for cars to excel in the testing, which used to trip up many models. Indeed, more tested cars are now Top Safety Picks than not.
The IIHS' first standardized crash test was its offset frontal, introduced in the mid-1990s, which quickly betrayed structural weaknesses in many models; within five years, a top score of Good became the norm. It followed that in the early 2000s with a side-impact test that simulates a T-bone strike from an SUV or pickup truck, and a high failure rate quickly reversed there too as well.
It's so unusual for cars to not ace those tests that the IIHS rarely conducts them itself anymore -- once a model earns Good once, the automaker can self-report future tests (with IIHS running occasional spot-checks).
Cars that miss out on Top Safety Pick most likely slip on one of the remaining tests: how well head restraints protect against whiplash, and how much weight the roof can withstand before caving in. Several models recently improved on the latter, including such best-sellers as the Honda Accord and CR-V and Toyota Camry. Eighteen of the 115 Top Safety Picks are new to the list for the 2012 model year.
The full list of IIHS Top Safety Picks is available at its website -- as are details of cars that have fared less well.
Car shoppers interested in safety ratings should further pay attention to crash tests from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which were recently redesigned to make it more difficult for cars to earn a top score. A number of IIHS Top Safety Picks have earned middling scores in the new NHTSA tests, which evaluate frontal- and side-impact performance under different crash scenarios. NHTSA scores are available at safercar.gov.
In other NHTSA safety news, the 2012 Cadillac SRX (and related Saab 9-4X) recently became the latest model to earn the top rating of five stars in NHTSA's tests. Seventeen individual vehicles in all have now earned that score, though note that NHTSA has tested fewer models than the IIHS.
The SRX/9-4X is also an IIHS Top Safety Pick.
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