Altogether, 10 small car models with government fuel economy ratings of at least 40 mpg on the highway also earn Top Safety Pick.
While you can’t change the laws of physics, you can use them to improve crash test results for vehicles. Six of 13 small cars tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety earned the Top Safety Pick award. None earned a poor rating in any of 4 evaluations for front, side, rollover, and rear impact performance.
The new tests include hybrids and gasoline-only models that are among the most fuel-efficient vehicles available in the U.S. market as fuel prices soar, increasing demand for smaller vehicles. Electronic controls and a better understanding of absorbing or diverting energy are increasing the safety of all vehicles.
In the latest group, the Toyota Prius hybrid is a Top Safety Pick and also one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the market, with estimates of 51 miles per gallon in the city and 48 mpg on the highway.
Altogether, 10 small and minicar models with government fuel economy ratings of at least 40 mpg on the highway also earn Top Safety Pick.
Cars that earn the top rating of good in each test and have available electronic stability control (ESC) qualify for Top Safety Pick. Winners are the 2012 Ford Focus and Honda Civic, along with the 2011 Hyundai Elantra, Lexus CT 200h hybrid, Nissan Juke, and Toyota Prius hybrid.
The Civic, CT 200h, Elantra, Focus, and Prius have at least one version with a government fuel economy rating of at least 40 miles per gallon on the highway. The Dodge Caliber, Honda CR-Z and Insight hybrids, Nissan Sentra and Versa, Scion XD, and Suzuki SX4 also were rated but didn’t earn Top Safety Pick.
Small cars used to have the least safety equipment. Now all have standard side airbags, and in this group all but the Caliber, SX4, and Versa have standard ESC for preventing many kinds of crashes.
“The list of cars with the best fuel economy now includes those with the highest crash test ratings in their class, too,” says David Zuby, the Institute’s chief research officer.
The Institute began awarding Top Safety Pick for the 2006 model year with less stringent criteria than today. Then only 3 small cars earned the designation (Honda Civic, Saab 9-2X, and Subaru Impreza). Now 22 small models, including those the Institute tested previously, earn the award generic ambien with tougher requirements including a roof strength test, an ESC requirement to help drivers avoid crashes, and higher rear impact protection scores.
Acceptable ratings in one or more evaluations kept 5 of the 13 small cars off the Top Safety Pick list. That was the case for the Honda CR-Z and Insight, Nissan Versa and Sentra, and Scion XD. The Suzuki SX4 is rated marginal for rollover and rear protection. The Dodge Caliber is rated marginal for side protection, while it is acceptable in the rollover test. None of the cars recently tested earn a poor rating in any evaluation.
Still, even Zuby points out that small, lightweight cars “don’t protect their occupants as well as bigger, heavier ones.”
How IIHS Tests
The Institute’s frontal crashworthiness evaluation is based on results of a severe 40 mph frontal offset crash test. Each vehicle’s rating is based on measurements of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury measures recorded on a 50th percentile male Hybrid III dummy in the driver seat, and analysis of slow-motion film to assess how well the restraint system controlled dummy movement during the test.
The side evaluation is based on performance in a crash test in which the side of a vehicle is struck by a barrier moving at 31 mph. The barrier represents the front end of a pickup truck or SUV. Ratings reflect injury measures recorded on 2 instrumented SID-IIs dummies representing a 5th percentile woman, assessment of head protection countermeasures, and the vehicle’s structural performance during the impact.
In the roof strength test, a metal plate is pushed against one side of a roof at a displacement rate of 0.2 inch per second. To earn a good rating for rollover protection, the roof must withstand a force of 4 times the vehicle’s weight before reaching 5 inches of crush. This is called a strength-to-weight ratio.
Rear crash protection is rated by a 2-step procedure. Starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry — the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man.
Seat/head restraints with good or acceptable geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures forces on the neck. This test simulates a collision in which a stationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph. Seats without good or acceptable geometry are rated poor overall because they can’t be positioned to protect many people.
