With the growing number of road accidents and fatalities in India, it has become necessity for each car manufacturer to make their cars safe and secure. Official reports released by the government of India states that last year nearly 5,00,000 accidents happened on roads out of which 1.5 lakh became the victim of injuries, including those who lost their lives. Hence it has become very essential to know if the car you are driving or being chauffeured in has come out clean of the test conducted by IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), the U.S. nonprofit organization that was established long back in 1959.
Every year this organization conducts crash tests to verify the crashworthiness of a vehicle. It means how well a car can protect its occupants during an accident or crash. Those vehicles that come out clean and are the best performer qualify for Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ by IIHS. Let’s understand on what factors do the rating of a vehicle depends:
For 2016 Top Safety Pick – To quality this test, is it necessary for a vehicle to earn good points in 5 crashworthiness tests, which include moderate overlap, small overlap front, roof, side, front strength and head restraints along with standard rating for front crash prevention.
For 2016 Top Safety Pick+ – To qualify this test, a vehicle has to pass the 5 crashworthiness tests mentioned above along with superior or advanced rating for front crash prevention.
So, let’s check out what are the TSP+ winners for the year 2016 in various car segments:
In this segment, 2016 Mini Cooper, a 2-door hatchback, wins the race by earning a rating of 4 points. The model has been an improvised version of the 2014 model with modified side curtain airbags for rear passengers.
2016 Acura ILX comes out as one of the winners in small cars by scoring “G” (stands for Good) in all the 5 crashworthiness aspects. During the crash, the frontal and side airbags did wonder to protect the head of the front passengers from any stiff object that could cause injury. Acura ILX scores 5 points in the test.
Other winners include 2016 Chevrolet Sonic, 2016 Honda Civic 2-door coupe and 4-door sedan, 2016 Mazda 3, 2016 Volkswagen Golf and GTI and 2016 Nissan Sentra among others.
Stealing the show, 2016 Chevrolet Malibu is one of the top scorers in midsize cars with an evaluation of 6 points overall. It scored high in the 25mph IIHS test wherein it was observed that the impact speed was condensed by 24mph.
Other names are 2016 Chrysler 200, 2016 Mazda 6, 2016 Toyota Camry and Prius V, 2016 Volkswagen Jetta and Passat, 2017 Ford Fusion and few more.
The top-selling 4-door sedan from the German luxury carmaker, Audi A3 is one of the top rated TSP+ picks of the year by IIHS by scoring good overall rating in small overlap front, side, roof and front strength, head restraints & seats and moderate overlap front. It scored 3 points whereas 2017 Audi A4 scores 6 points.
2016 BMW 2 series, 2016 Lexus ES 350, 2017 Lincoln MKZ and 2016 Volvo S60 and V60 are the other cars that successfully passed the TSP+ test.
Luxury cars come at hefty prices so why not buy those cars that are IIHS approved also. Beginning the countdown here is the 2016 Mercedes-Benz E-Class that is also certified as the environment friendly vehicle with very less amount of CO2 emission.
Other car models include 2016 Acura RLX, 2016 Audi A6, 2016 Lexus RC, 2016 Volvo S80, et al.
SUVs have become the trend setters worldwide, especially in developing nations like India. Considered as the family car, SUVs have in the recent past taken a leap jump to provide the customers with the best-in-class facilities. 2016 Mazda CX-3 and 2016 Toyota RAV4 have scored 6 points in the total crashworthiness.
Other rivals are 2016 BMW X1, 2016 Honda CR-V, 2016 Fiat 500x, 2016 Nissan Rouge and many more.
The sole winner in this segment is the 2017 Audi Q7 that scored 5 points in the overall evaluation of the vehicle. It comes with optional Audi pre-sense front and optional Driver assistance package.
In this section, only two vehicles were able to pass the IIHS test and are the TSP of the year 2016. 2016 Honda Odyssey and 2016 Kia Sedona are the two names that managed to come out clean of the crash test. Both scored an overall evaluation of 1 point each.
These are the names of the winners of 2016 that proved their worth on their crashworthiness. In case your car is not listed in the above mentioned names, don’t panic and check out in which areas your car is lacking to clear the crash test.
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