IIHS releases 2010 US Safest Car list

By Matt Brogan | November 19th, 2009

The US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced a far more stringent standard when awarding its coveted Top Safety list this year with a renewed focus on heightened roof strength test standards.

The only manufacturer with a model in each category for 2010 was Subaru, which took home an award for each model it offers, aside from the WRX STi.

“With the addition of our new roof strength evaluation, our crash test results now cover all four of the most common kinds of crashes,” said IIHS president Adrian Lund in a statement. “Consumers can use this list to zero in on the vehicles that are on the top rung for safety.”

The awards require top marks in front, side, rear and roll over crash evaluations, the latter of which is tested by pushing a metal plate against one side of the roof at a constant speed. A good rating means that the roof withstood four times the vehicle’s weight without crushing more than five inches (127mm).

The awards list is as follows:

Large cars

Buick LaCrosse
Ford Taurus
Lincoln MKS
Volvo S80

Medium cars

Audi A3
Chevrolet Malibu
Chrysler Sebring sedan
Dodge Avenger
Mercedes C-Class
Subaru Legacy (Liberty)
Subaru Outback
Volkswagen Jetta sedan
Volkswagen Passat sedan
Volvo C30

Small cars

Honda Civic sedan (except Si)
Kia Soul
Nissan Cube
Subaru Impreza (except WRX)
Volkswagen Golf four-door

Medium SUVs

Dodge Journey
Subaru Tribeca
Volvo XC60
Volvo XC90

Small SUVs

Honda Element
Jeep Patriot
Subaru Forester
Volkswagen Tiguan

Toyota Guru

Whoa… no Toyotas in that list? Dear oh dear…

DGS

Oh, but there is a Kia

Car fanatic

Plenty of Volkswagens though, I’m more confident know how crash safe my car is now.

Poor poor Toyota, tests like this will surely make people see that while reliability is a key issue, when in an accident the differnce between injury and serious injury is far greater.
doh

how come Audi A3 is a medium sized car?

DE

The same way as Commodore variants are not “Large” cars in the States.
Baddass

I was wondering why the C30 is called a medium car, as it is clearly small. Perhaps it is a move from Volvo itself to push the C30 into a more upmarket, premium class.

Car fanatic

Maybe they meant A4, I see your point though, Golf is in the same size class. Remember these are Americans we are dealing with.
Safety Frist

Yup… I can just see how valid a test of pushing a metal plate against a roof structure is, when traditionally roll overs are diagonally first then sidewards and such with the biggest problem in a roll over being whatever hapens to be at the side of the road………..
Sorry but this is the safe safety authority that is on record as blaming speed foor themajor reason in every crash, regardless of the ohter vehicles going through red lights and what have you……….. good credentials… straight out of the AL GORE school of scare mongering to ensure profitability……

blue

I remembered not too long ago there wasn’t even any safety stars awarded and people drive as there’s no tomorrow and still survive…

Safety is an attitude, a state of mind. It’s about education and all these tests are pretty meaningless and if the car ever crash, would they follow the same laboratory test environment, I doubt so.

This is close to the arguement “The best weapon is one you’ll never fire”.

Safety Frist

My biggest concern is that (and I am seeing it everyday in the showroom) people get these 5 star cars with all the safety gear and drive “less safely” because the car is supposed to protect them!! The other day in the rain I had a customer not bother with slowing down for a corner due to the wet because “isn’t ESP supposed to take care of that????” ..
the more we tell them the car is safe teh more risks they take! Tell a kid it’s dangerous to walk across that plank and they’ll stick their arms out and balance themselves. Tell them it’s super safe and tehy’ll run and jump on it…….

Sunny

Goes to show safety effort that subaru is putting in their cars..

Pretty much all categories have a subaru
DE

Ford Motor Co received the most awards with six, followed by five awards apiece for Subaru and Volkswagen AG.

Chrysler Group LLC received four awards followed by two each for Honda Motor Co and General Motors Co.

Toyota Motor Corp, BMW AG, Mazda Motor Corp and Mitsubishi Motors Corp failed to rate in the annual IIHS review.
Peter

strange the volvo s40 isnt in the medium category when the c30 is. The s40 is particularly safe, it has an intrusion bar going through the centre pillar to the roof, rather than just in the doors, to stop the bigger cars coming in over the window line. The c30 would expose the driver more, I’d have thought, with the bar well behind the driver. That said, nice to see 4 volvos in the top. They only missed out in categories where they dont have a car. It’s particularly comforting when your kids are being driven around in them, and makes it hard to get out of the marque.
AAA

Where’s Nissan, Mitsi and Mazda?
Em

My dad was involved in a horrific single vehicle crash. He was in a 2002 Ford Falcon and hit a concrete barrier at 100km. It was only the grace of God that saved him. He had two off duty ambulance officers who were able to help him. He was also only minutes from a major hospital. He suffered multiple injuries, including a severe traumatic brain injury. He was in a medically induced coma and had to have extensive rehab.

My view is that the best protection you can give your family and yourself is accepting Jesus as your saviour. The fact that my father survived is truly a miracle.