Top Safety Pick 2009 award winners

Vehicle ratings

Top Safety Picks 2009

Current winners listed at left | Past Top Safety Pick winners

The Institute rates vehicles good, acceptable, marginal, or poor based on performance in high-speed front and side crash tests plus evaluations of seat/head restraints for protection against neck injuries in rear impacts. The first requirement for a vehicle to become a Top Safety Pick is to earn good ratings in all three Institute tests. Another requirement is that winning vehicles must offer electronic stability control. This requirement is based on Institute research indicating that ESC significantly reduces crash risk, especially the risk of fatal single-vehicle crashes, by helping drivers maintain control of their vehicles during emergency maneuvers.

Crashworthiness refers to how well a vehicle protects its occupants in a crash.

40 mph frontal offset crash tests are good assessments of vehicles' structural design

• Frontal offset crash test details, ratings criteria, and crash test verification

Side impact crash tests are good assessments of occupant protection when vehicles are struck in the side by SUVs or pickups

Note: When side airbags are optional, the Institute tests without the option and will conduct a second test with the optional airbags if a manufacturer requests it and reimburses the Institute for the cost of the vehicle.

• Side impact crash test details and ratings criteria

• Vehicles with side airbag protection systems

Rear crash protection/head restraint ratings focus on how well seat/head restraint combinations protect against whiplash injury

• Procedures for rating seat/head restraints

• Rear crash protection ratings by make: select Acura Audi BMW Buick Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler Daewoo Dodge Eagle Ford GMC Honda Hummer Hyundai Infiniti Isuzu Jaguar Jeep Kia Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Mazda Mercedes Mercury Mini Mitsubishi Nissan Oldsmobile Plymouth Pontiac Porsche Saab Saturn Scion Smart Subaru Suzuki Toyota Volkswagen Volvo

Vehicles equipped with electronic stability control (ESC)

About half of the fatal passenger vehicle crashes that occur each year involve a single vehicle. Equipping vehicles with ESC can reduce the risk of involvement in these crashes by more than 50 percent.

• ESC availability by make and model

Bumper testing program

The Institute's new series of tests does a better job than the old tests in matching the kind of low-speed impacts that occur in the real world. Each car is run into a barrier designed to mimic the design of a car bumper. The steel barrier's plastic absorber and flexible cover simulate typical cars' energy absorbers and plastic bumper covers.

The four tests include front and rear full-width impacts at 6 mph and front and rear corner impacts at 3 mph. The barrier is 18 inches from the ground in the full-width tests and 16 inches from ground in the corner impacts. These heights are designed to drive bumper improvements and lead to better protection from damage in a range of real-world crashes. In developmental tests, these configurations produced the kinds and amounts of damage that commonly occur in low-speed collisions.

September 4, 2008 news release: Small car bumper test results: Most small cars aren't economical for crash repairs: Ford Focus performs the best; Rabbit & Prius are the worst in bumper tests

December 20, 2007 news release: Minivan bumper test results: Nissan Quest is by far the worst performer

August 2, 2007 news release: Bumpers on luxury cars aren't luxurious: worst is Infiniti G35; 4 of 11 cars sustain more than $10,000 damage in 4 minor bumps

March 1, 2007 news release: First results of new crash tests: most car bumpers don't work in low-speed crashes; 3 cars sustain $4,500 damage in 6 mph test while old Ford Escort sustains little damage

Ratings for all vehicles the Institute has tested:

Select make Acura Audi BMW Buick Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler Daewoo Dodge Ford GMC Honda Hummer Hyundai Infiniti Isuzu Jaguar Jeep Kia Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Mazda Mercedes Mercury Mini Mitsubishi Nissan Oldsmobile Plymouth Pontiac Saab Saturn Scion Smart Subaru Suzuki Toyota Volkswagen Volvo
Select model

Ratings grouped by vehicle type/size:

Can't find a rating for a particular make/model?

We don't have crash test results for vehicles that aren't listed in the menus above, and we don't release information in advance about individual vehicles or categories of vehicles we plan to test. Check back with our site periodically or subscribe to our RSS feed for notification when new crash test results are posted to our site.

IIHS crash test videos
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BusinessWeek Online

Consumer Reports

MSN Autos

Vehix — You must select year/make/model, enter your zip code, and then choose the "Crash Test Video" tab, which will appear only if video exists for the chosen vehicle

Technical protocols used in our testing programs

Our Vehicle Research Center crash testing facility

Insurance losses by make and model — losses for hundreds of passenger vehicles grouped by body style and size under six insurance coverages: collision, property damage liability, comprehensive personal injury protection, medical payment, and bodily injury. from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI).