Vehicles of almost every size and class, from small cars and SUVs to large pickups and minivans, as well as hybrids and all-electric vehicles – are among the 48 2023 model year vehicles that have been recognized for their safety benefits in a newly released annual ranking.
Toyota Motor Corp., which includes both Toyota and Lexus brands, garnered the most awards overall for a total of 15. Honda, which includes the Acura and Honda brands, earned 8 awards, and Mazda garnered six.
Criteria for receiving an award this year was strengthened in three areas: side crash protection, nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention systems, and headlight performance.
Those are the highlights of the most recent list of Top Safety Picks, an evaluation of 2023 models designed to give consumers an efficient way to identify vehicles with the best level of safety available. The yearly ranking was released on Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit financed by the insurance industry.
“The number of winners is smaller this year because we’re challenging automakers to build on the safety gains they’ve already achieved,” David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute, said in a statement.. “These models are true standouts in both crashworthiness and crash prevention.”
This year, 28 models were recognized in the first-tier award category called Top Safety Pick+, the institute’s highest designation for providing the most advanced level of crash protection. An additional 20 models earned the second tier award, Top Safety Pick.
Last year, before changes to the institute’s award requirements, there were 101 winners.
Both Top Safety Pick+ and Top Safety Pick awards identify the safest choices within vehicle type, including size, luxury, SUVs, etc. (As a rule of thumb, larger, heavier vehicles generally afford more protection than smaller, lighter ones.) Vehicles in both award categories were evaluated based on a variety of criteria that assessed crash worthiness in a series of tests as well as how well headlights work to reduce nighttime crashes.
This year’s improvements include more stringent standards for side crash protection, pedestrian crash prevention systems and headlights.
“It’s exciting that these manufacturers have been so swift to implement the substantial design changes and technological advancements that these new requirements demand,” Harkey added, noting that more progress is needed. “U.S. traffic fatalities hit a 20-year high in the first half of 2022, in part due to a steady climb in pedestrian crashes.” .
About half of all fatal U.S. crashes happen in the dark, and three-quarters of fatal pedestrian crashes occur at night, “when research shows that many pedestrian crash avoidance systems perform poorly,” researchers noted.
Updates to make evaluations more rigorous are essential, institute researchers said, as the program is designed to push manufacturers toward a higher level of safety. Roof strength, head restraint and vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention tests are no longer necessary, as industry progress, from both improvements to federal safety standards and voluntary commitments by automakers, has made these tests less relevant.
In future years, improvements are expected to continue, according to the Insurance Institute. Researchers are currently working on a more challenging test to address crashes that occur at higher speeds and involve vehicles other than passenger vehicles, for example, and they are exploring how tougher head restraint evaluations might help eliminate more injuries from rear-impact crashes. Next year, a revised test is planned that will feature an additional dummy positioned in the second row, “designed to encourage automakers to extend the high level of protection now commonly provided for the driver and front seat passenger to rear seat occupants. ”
Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said she and colleagues commend the Insurance Institute for continuing to raise the bar through its assessments, but while its ratings can motivate, the federal government needs to improve regulation.
Traffic fatalities reached nearly 43,000 in 2021, and preliminary 2022 data reveal the figures remain “incomprehensibly high,” Chase said in a statement. “We urge the Biden Administration to prioritize the issuance of proven solutions to address the public health disaster occurring on our roadways every day.”
Other safety and consumer groups also rate vehicles. Consumer Reports recently issued its top recommendations for 2023 cars.
For the full list of Insurance Institute winners and details on each vehicle, click here; for general safety information, click here.
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The Safest Cars For 2023 – Toyota, Honda And Mazda Top Rankings - Forbes
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