Annually, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety chooses car models to win its Top Safety Pick award. This award recognizes car designs that provide for the best protection in front, side, and rear collisions. The award is based on a series of safety tests the institute performs.
Safe Cars
In this article, we're going to provide the award list, along with information from the federal government and their top rated cars in terms of safety. As consumers, we should expect cars to deliver us at least two benefits. The first is to reliably move us across the roadways. The second is that a car should be a safe one to drive. In this instance, safety includes both performance and protection.
Avoiding Accidents
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In terms of safe performance, we're talking about equipment installed in cars that result in the vehicle being able to hold the road, which helps drivers to avoid accidents. We talk about these features at the end of this article.
Protecting Drivers and Passengers
In terms of protection, we're talking about how well an automobile is able to protect those riding in the vehicle. In other words, does the car's design help to prevent passengers in the vehicle from sustaining serious injuries?
These two elements are important when designing a vehicle. In fact, if a car could be designed to avoid accidents in the first place, then manufacturers wouldn't have to worry about protecting passengers involved in accidents.
Safety Ratings
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an organization dedicated to reducing the losses from highway accidents. The institute was established by automobile insurance companies that were interested in taking a scientific approach to reducing the loss of life and property on the roadways of America.
Top Safety Pick Awards
Based on the protocol developed by the Institute, 2020 and 2021 model cars were tested and rated to develop a Top Safety Pick award. The following lists of cars are considered the safest on the road today, based on the findings of the Institute.
Small cars
2021 Honda Insight 4-door sedan
2020 Honda Civic 4-door hatchback
2020 Honda Civic 4-door sedan
2020 Hyundai Elantra 4-door sedan
2020 Hyundai Elantra GT 4-door hatchback
2020 Hyundai Veloster 2-door hatchback
2020 Kia Forte 4-door sedan
2020 Kia Soul 4-door wagon
2020 Mazda 3 4-door sedan
2020 Subaru Crosstrek 4-door wagon
2020 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid 4-door wagon
2020 Subaru Impreza 4-door sedan
2020 Subaru Impreza 4-door wagon
2020 Subaru WRX 4-door sedan
2020 Toyota Corolla 4-door sedan
Midsize cars
2020 Honda Accord 4-door sedan
2020 Hyundai Sonata 4-door sedan
2019 Kia Optima 4-door sedan
2020 Mazda 6 4-door sedan
2020 Nissan Altima 4-door sedan
2020 Subaru Legacy 4-door sedan
2020 Subaru Outback 4-door wagon
2020 Toyota Camry 4-door sedan
Midsize luxury cars
2020 BMW 3 series 4-door sedan
2020 Lexus ES 350 4-door sedan
2020 Mercedes-Benz C-Class 4-door sedan
2020 Tesla Model 3 4-door sedan
Volvo S60 4-door sedan
Large cars
2020 Volkswagen Arteon 4-door hatchback
2020 Kia Stinger 4-door hatchback
Large luxury cars
2020 Audi A6 4-door sedan
2020 Audi A6 allroad 4-door wagon
2020 Genesis G70 4-door sedan
2020 Genesis G80 4-door sedan
2020 Genesis G90 4-door sedan
Small SUVs
2020Chevrolet Equinox 4-door SUV
2020 Ford Escape 4-door SUV
2020 Honda CR-V 4-door SUV
2019 Honda HR-V 4-door SUV
2020 Hyundai Kona 4-door SUV
2020 Hyundai Tucson 4-door SUV
2020 Hyundai Venue 4-door SUV
2020 Kia Sportage 4-door SUV
2020 Lincoln Corsair 4-door SUV
2020 Lexus UX 4-door SUV
2020 Mazda CX-3 4-door SUV
2020 Mazda CX-30 4-door SUV
2020 Mazda CX-5 4-door SUV
2020 Subaru Forester 4-door SUV
2020 Toyota RAV4 4-door SUV
2020 Volvo XC40 4-door SUV
Midsize SUVs
2020 Ford Edge 4-door SUV
2020 Ford Explorer 4-door SUV
2020 Hyundai Santa Fe 4-door SUV
2020 Hyundai Palisade 4-door SUV
2020 Kia Sorento 4-door SUV
2020 Kia Telluride 4-door SUV
2020 Mazda CX-9 4-door SUV
2021 Subaru Ascent 4-door SUV
2020 Toyota Highlander 4-door SUV
2020 Volkswagen Tiguan 4-door SUV
Midsize luxury SUVs
2020 Acura RDX 4-door SUV
2020 Cadillac XT6 4-door SUV
2020 Hyundai Nexo 4-door SUV
2020 Lexus NX 4-door SUV
2020 Lexus RX 4-door SUV
2020 Lincoln Aviator 4-door SUV
2020 Mercedes-Benz GLC 4-door SUV
2020 Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class 4-door SUV
2020 Volvo XC60 4-door SUV
2020 Volvo XC90 4-door SUV
Large SUVs
2020 Audi e-tron 4-door SUV
2020 Audi Q8 4-door SUV
Minivans
2021 Honda Odyssey minivan
Note: Where applicable, includes optional front crash prevention.
Testing Cars
The institute evaluates a car's safety performance based on frontal offset impacts at 40 miles per hour, a side impact test, and two rear impacts at 20 miles per hour. Injury is determined by examining two dummies, one in the driver's side, and a second in the rear seat behind the driver. A vehicle also needs good performance in a roof strength test, which is used to measure protection in a rollover.
Government Vehicle Safety Ratings
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also publishes a list of cars with excellent safety ratings. In fact, they even have a database that allows users to do a search based on make and model year. The NHTSA evaluates cars and light trucks in three areas: frontal crashes, side impacts, and rollover ratings.
Safety Features
Consumers that are really trying to find a safe car to drive might also want to check out our article: Car Safety Features, which has additional information on the different types of equipment available in today's cars.
About the Author - Car Safety Ratings
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