|
 The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an industry funded group
that prods automakers into building safer cars by awarding
influential ratings, said Thursday that Toyota Motor Corp. <7203.T>
topped the list of 48 Top Safety Pick+ of 2016 with 9 winners, which
included the Camry, the best-selling U.S. car.
Another 13 qualified for the second highest award on the list, which
is known as the Top Safety Pick. The awards, often used in automaker
advertising, follow tougher criteria for safety standards this year
than in the past.
The IIHS announcement comes just days after U.S. auto safety
regulators unveiled on Tuesday a major proposed overhaul to crash
safety tests that will require automakers to add crash avoidance
technologies to new vehicles if they want to gain the top, five-star
ratings.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing
three new ratings for cars and trucks on pedestrian safety, crash
worthiness and crash avoidance under its New Car Assessment Program.
NHTSA's proposal would push automakers to add advanced technologies
like the ones IIHS is demanding to get top ratings.
Honda Motor Co. <7267.T> placed second with eight winners announced
by IIHS, followed by Volkswagen AG <VOWG.DE> with seven winners and
Subaru Motor Co. <9778.T> with six awards.
In order to get the top IIHS rating, automakers must have a frontal
crash prevention system with automatic braking capabilities to
prevent a rear-end collision. The vehicles must stop or slow down
without driver intervention before hitting a target in tests at 12
or 25 miles per hour, IIHS said.
[to top of second column] |
Among U.S. nameplates, only Fiat Chrysler Automobile NV's <FCHA.MI>
Chrysler 200 received the Top Safety Pick+ award, as did its Fiat
500X.
IIHS said 2016 winners must also perform well in tougher offset
crash tests. More than 20 winners of the Top Safety Pick award last
year did not qualify for 2016.
"As vehicles continue to improve, however, we think it’s important
to recognize that progress and encourage further advances by making
our ratings more stringent," IIHS President Adrian Lund said.
For the first time, NHTSA will base the crash test ratings for
vehicles on whether the manufacturer has included certain crash
avoidance technology.
The new ratings are scheduled to take effect in the 2019 model year.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Diane Craft)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
