By CRM staff
Toronto, Ontario — December 28, 2018 — Since 2013, the Insurance Institute Highway Safety (IIHS) has been raising the bar every year for their Top Safety Pick Plus awards to encourage manufacturers to speed up their safety advances.
With 20 automakers pledging to equip virtually all passenger vehicles with autobrake by 2022, many are already on track to beat the deadline under a voluntary commitment brokered in 2015 by IIHS and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
These awards are not only meant to help consumers with choosing their vehicles, but also to inform collision repairers that manufacturers are working towards having more crash proof vehicles.
In order for an automobile to qualify for the 2019 Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must earn good ratings in the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests. It also must earn an advanced or superior rating for front crash prevention and a good headlight rating.
“Among the vehicles that qualified for an award this year, more than half of them have a front crash prevention system that is offered as standard equipment and our ratings encourage headlights that help drivers see further down the road while not blinding oncoming drivers,” said president of IIHS, David Harkey.
Subaru led the pack this year with the most Top Safety Pick Plus awards, but other vehicles such as the 2019 Hyundai Elantra, 2019 Toyota Corolla and 2019 Nissan Altima were some of the other 57 vehicles chosen for the 2019 Top Safety Pick Plus awards. Although, there are reportedly no models from Ford, General Motors, or Tesla on their current list.
