The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released a list of its 2013 Top Safety Pick award winners. Although this is no longer the agency’s highest rating, each car on the list must earn the top score of Good in the moderate overlap frontal test, side-impact, rollover and rear tests.
To qualify for the agency’s highest award, the new Top Safety Pick + designation, the vehicle must earn Good ratings in all of the previous tests and no less than Acceptable in its new small overlap frontal test. “The small overlap test replicates what happens when the front corner of a car collides with another vehicle or an object like a tree or utility pole. In the test, 25% of a car’s front end on the driver side strikes a 5-foot-tall rigid barrier at 40 mph,” IIHS said in a statement. As we reported earlier in the week, it’s a tough test to pass.
IIHS reports that 117 model-year 2013 vehicles earned Top Safety Pick awards, including several redesigned cars like the Ford Escape, Nissan Sentra and Toyota Avalon. Thirteen model-year 2013 vehicles earned the “plus” designation.
News Editor Jennifer Geiger joined the automotive industry in 2003, much to the delight of her Corvette-obsessed dad. Jennifer is an expert reviewer, certified car-seat technician and mom of three. She wears a lot of hats — many of them while driving a minivan.