Here’s a bit of a turnaround…six of 13 small cars recently evaluated by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety earned the top safety pick award in crash testing.
And perhaps better yet…none of the small cars tested in any of the 4 separate crash tests earned a poor rating.
But let’s cut to the chase.
The six small cars that earned the top safety picks include the:
– Nissan Juke
The small cars that were also tested but failed to earn the top safety picks included the:
– Dodge Caliber
– Honda CR-Z hybrid
– Honda Insight hybrid
– Nissan Sentra
– Nissan Versa
– Scion xD
– Suzuki SX4
“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,” according to the IIFHS.
“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.
Back in 1997 when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety evaluated 11 small cars none of them managed to even earn a the top rating of good, and 3 were poor.
The facts are that today’s small cars 40 MPG on the highway cars come with all of the safety equipment of larger and more expensive cars making them much more safe than earlier models.
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