New IIHS Top Safety Picks Announced

For many, safety is a top concern. As the automakers have progressed, overall safety has increased the point where the majority of new vehicles are achieving good results.

Federal standards are remaining the same for now, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has made a change to its testing for vehicles to get the "Top Safety Pick" award. The new ones focus on roof strength in the event of a rollover, requiring roof strength to withstand 4 times the vehicles weight before reaching 5 inches of crush. The results are quite surprising!

Only 19 cars made the grade this year. To put things into perspective, the following automakers have no entries on the list for model year 2010: BMW, Cadillac, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Lexus, Saab and Scion.

An interesting fact is that Subaru is the only manufacturer with a winner in each of the 4 vehicle classes that it competes in. Toyota in particular was outraged with the results, putting out a press release after the announcement calling the IIHS tests "extreme" and "misleading" because only three of its vehicles were actually tested.

IIHS spokesman Russ Rader responded saying that the institute offered Toyota the ability to nominate vehicles for the test and none were selected by the manufacturer. Also, the Toyota Camry would have made the list if it achieved good marks in rear end crash testing (it met the roof standard but not the rear crash test). Enough of the spat between the IIHS and Toyota though - here is the complete list of "Top Safety Picks" from the IIHS for the 2010 model year.

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p style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0.8em;margin-left: 0px;text-align: left;padding: 0px">Large carsBuick LaCrosse Ford Taurus Lincoln MKS Volvo S80

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p style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0.8em;margin-left: 0px;text-align: left;padding: 0px">Midsize carsAudi A3 Chevrolet Malibu built after October 2009Chrysler Sebring 4-door with optional electronic stability controlDodge Avenger with optional electronic stability controlMercedes C class Subaru Legacy Subaru Outback Volkswagen Jetta sedanVolkswagen Passat sedanVolvo C30

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p style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0.8em;margin-left: 0px;text-align: left;padding: 0px">Small cars Honda Civic 4-door models (except Si) with optional electronic stability controlKia Soul Nissan Cube Subaru Impreza except WRXVolkswagen Golf 4-door

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p style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0.8em;margin-left: 0px;text-align: left;padding: 0px">Midsize SUVsDodge Journey Subaru Tribeca Volvo XC60 Volvo XC90

Small SUVs Honda Element Jeep Patriot with optional side torso airbagsSubaru Forester Volkswagen Tiguan