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Along with style, power and high gas mileage, you want a new car that will protect you in a crash. A good place to start is with vehicles awarded the top safety pick rating for 2012 by the
Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, which released its list Thursday of 115 winners.
To get that top rating, a
car,
van or
SUV must stand up to
crash tests simulating front, side, rear and rollover accidents. The rollover standard has proved especially difficult for many models in the past.
IIHS President Adrian Lund noted that the original 2005 ratings contained only 11 models as top picks. The 115 that qualified this year are "a testament to the commitment auto makers have made to go above and beyond minimum safety standards," Lund said.
Companies with the strongest showing included
Subaru, which got top ratings for all five models it sells in the U.S. Toyota Motor North America got the most top picks, with 15 of its
Toyota,
Lexus and
Scion models. That includes a top pick rating for the first time for the redesigned 2012
Camry.
The Camry also got a 5-star rating in tests by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration -- more difficult now that those tests have been toughened for 2012 models.
Strong improvement from Honda
IIHS also cited
Honda of America for the most improvement. Of the 18 vehicles new to top safety pick status this year, 10 of them were
Honda or
Acura models. "
Honda buckled down and upgraded roofs on 10 models that missed winning last year because of rollover protection," Lund said.
If you are shopping, you can find a top pick model in almost every category. Among high-mileage
green cars, the
Toyota Prius V -- the bigger version of the original
Prius -- qualifies. So do the plug-in
Nissan Leaf and
Chevrolet Volt.
IIHS is keeping its top rating for the Volt despite an investigation by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into
battery fires after Volt crash tests. The Institute says it found no special battery problems during or after its
crash tests.
Safe bigger vehicles
Among bigger vehicles, three
pickups got top rating: The
Ford F-150 crew cab models, the
Honda Ridgeline and the
Toyota Tundra crew cab. Minivans offer an even bigger choice:
Chrysler Town & Country,
Dodge Grand Caravan,
Honda Odyssey,
Toyota Sienna and
Volkswagen Routan all got the top rating.
Here is a full list of vehicles that got the top safety pick designation:
Minicars
Small cars
Midsize moderately priced cars
Midsize luxury/near luxury cars
Large family cars
Large luxury cars
Small SUVs
Midsize SUVs
Midsize luxury SUVs
Large SUVs
Minivans
Large pickups
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