The Ford Taurus, Honda Insight, Kia Soul (shown), and Toyota Prius are all IIHS Top Safety Picks for their crash test performance and available safety features. See more photos from these crash tests in today's slideshow. All photos courtesy Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The new 2010 Honda Insight and redesigned 2010 Toyota Prius use electric motors along with their gasoline engines to minimize their fuel usage, but new crash tests from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggest that you don't have to give up safety to get good gas mileage.
The 41-mpg Insight and the 50-mpg Prius each earned the IIHS's Top Safety Pick designation, the organization announced today, which means they offer excellent front- and side-impact protection, head restraints that prevent whiplash injury, and a skid-preventing electronic stability control system.
(On the Insight, Top Safety Pick designation applies only to the upper-level EX version; the base LX does not offer the stability control that's standard on pricier models.)
Also rated a Top Safety Pick today was the new 2010 Kia Soul subcompact hatchback/wagon, joining the redesigned 2010 Ford Taurus full-size sedan whose Top Safety designation had been announced last week.
The Top Safety Pick award "is intended to drive continued safety improvements such as top crash test ratings and the rapid addition of electronic stability control," according to the IIHS's press release.
More than 70 2009 and 2010-model vehicles qualify for the Top Safety Pick 2009 designation, but next year's winners will be limited to vehicles that also do well in the IIHS's new demanding roof crush test -- a test these four vehicles have not yet been subjected to.
The Taurus and Prius's crash tests were conducted by their manufacturers rather than by the IIHS because their 2009 versions had already earned the top rating of Good in front and side impacts, a cost-saving measure the IIHS terms the "crash test verification." The IIHS runs spot-check tests to verify automakers' veracity.
The Taurus earned top marks in every subcategory in its 40-mph offset-frontal crash test, and also successfully prevented injury in a side crash test that simulates being t-boned by an SUV or pickup at 31 miles an hour.
The Prius allowed for a risk of head injuries in the frontal crash test when the crash dummy's head hit the steering wheel through the airbag, but its performance was still strong enough to earn the highest rating of Good. There was little risk of any serious injury in the side crash test.
The IIHS did not publish photos of the Prius and Taurus crash tests because they were conducted by the automakers. See details and photos of the Insight and Soul crash tests in today's slideshow.
In the frontal crash test, cars hit a barrier mounted against a wall, which simulates a collision against a car of identical weight and therefore makes the test more demanding for a heavy car like the Taurus than the three lighter compact vehicles. IIHS crash tests of midsize sedans against small ones make it clear that a Good rating in a light vehicle does not mean it would survive an impact with a big car.
The side crash test, however, affects all cars equally, making a small car's Good performance all the more impressive.
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