Car Safety Ratings

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Car Safety Ratings

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 publication, we're going to provide you with 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

Additional Resources

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 car safety 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 safe car. 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 of Cars

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, 2011 model cars were tested and rated to develop a Top Safety Pick award. The following lists of cars are considered the safest cars on the road today, based on the findings of the Institute.

Large Cars

Buick LaCrosse
Buick Regal
BMW 5 Series (Except 4WD and V8)
Cadillac CTS Sedan
Chrysler 300
Dodge Charger
Ford Taurus
Hyundai Equus
Hyundai Genesis
Infiniti M37
Infiniti M57 (Except 4WD)
Lincoln MKS
Mercedes E Class Coupe
Mercedes E Class Sedan
Toyota Avalon
Volvo S80

Small Cars

Chevrolet Cruze
Chevrolet Volt
Honda Civic 4D (Except Si w/ ESC)
Kia Forte Sedan
Kia Soul
Mazda 3 (Built after December 2010)
Mini Cooper Countryman
Mitsubishi Lancer Sedan (Except 4WD)
Nissan Cube
Nissan Leaf
Scion tC
Scion xB
Subaru Impreza (Except WRX)
Toyota Corolla
Volkswagen Golf 4D
Volkswagen GTI 4D

Mini-Cars

Ford Fiesta (Built after July 2010)

Midsize Cars

Audi A3
Audi A4 sedan
Chevrolet Malibu
Chrysler 200 4D
Dodge Avenger
Ford Fusion
Hyundai Sonata
Kia Optima
Lincoln MKZ
Mercedes C Class
Subaru Legacy
Subaru Outback
Volkswagen Jetta sedan
Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen
Volvo C30
Volvo S60

Minivans

Honda Odyssey
Toyota Sienna

Large SUVs

Buick Enclave (Built after January 2011)
Chevrolet Traverse (Built after January 2011)
GMC Acadia (Built after January 2011)
Volkswagen Touareg

Midsize SUVs

Audi Q5
Cadillac SRX
Chevrolet Equinox
Dodge Journey
Ford Edge (Built after February 2011)
Ford Explorer
Ford Flex
GMC Terrain
Hyundai Santa Fe
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Kia Sorento (Built after March 2010)
Lexus RX
Lincoln MKT
Lincoln MKX (Built after February 2011)
Mercedes GLK
Subaru Tribeca
Toyota Highlander
Toyota Venza
Volvo XC60
Volvo XC90

Small SUVs

Honda Element
Hyundai Tucson
Jeep Patriot (With Side Torso Airbags)
Kia Sportage
Subaru Forester
Volkswagen Tiguan

Large Pick-Ups

Ford F-150 (Crew Cab Models Built after February 2011)
Toyota Tundra (Crew Cab Models)

Car Safety Testing

The insitute 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. As mentioned, the Insititute is focused on providing a scientific approach to evaluating cars for safety.

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 you 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.

Car Safety Features

If you're really trying to find a safe car to drive, then you might also want to check out our article on Car Safety Features. There you'll find a lot of good information on the different types of safety equipment found in today's cars, as well as the optional safety features you might want to purchase the next time you buy a new car.

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