The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has published Thursday the results of its testing to establish the safest 2017 model year cars on sale in the US. And it's good news if you drive a new Honda, Mazda or Toyota with Japanese marques dominating the charts.
Of all new cars launched in America from all major manufacturers the second half of 2016, just 38 vehicles have managed to achieve the independent safety and crash testing organization's highest award -- the IIHS Top Safety Pick + rating.
"The field of contenders is smaller this year because so few vehicles have headlights that do their job well, but it's not as small as we expected when we decided to raise the bar for the awards," said Adrian Lund, IIHS president.
Awards are based not just on how well a car can survive a collision but how well it can avoid an accident. So testing criteria was tightened with a greater focus on headlamp performance and on rewarding companies that offer features like autonomous braking as standard equipment.
"Manufacturers are focusing on improving this basic safety equipment, and we're confident that the winners' list will grow as the year progresses," Lund said.
For now it means that 44 cars had to settle for IIHS Top Safety Pick status and of those that scooped the highest scores, the overwhelming majority are Japanese. Of the 38 Pick + awards, 25 went to Acura, Honda, Lexus, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru or Toyota.
The Honda Ridgeline is the only large pickup truck from any company to have earned a top safety rating. Likewise, just five small SUVs earned a + rating and they're all Japanese. In the mid-size car category, eight of the nine winners are Japanese and the other is the Volkswagen Jetta.
The Chevrolet Volt clinched a + rating in the small car category; the Buick Envision is the only US mid-size luxury SUV to get top marks; and the Chrysler Pacifica can claim to be the only minivan from any company to get the highest marks.
However, the trend continues among the 44 models named to the Top Safety Pick list which features seven cars from domestic car companies -- the Chevrolet Malibu, Chrysler 200, Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, GMC Arcadia, Cadillac XT5, and the Lincoln MKX. That's alongside 15 European cars, 15 Japanese cars and seven from either Hyundai or Kia.
For a full list of the latest Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick + models, visit the IIHS web portal.
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