Up until now, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rated a car’s safety credentials based on the usual, familiar crash tests, as well as the number and complexity of the electronic safety systems it had fitted.
Front crash prevention or mitigation setups were, of course, taken into consideration, but the Institute only checked whether or not a car came with these, and not how effective they were.
However, that is no longer the case, as they have just gone through their first batch of 74 vehicles, all of which are designated 2013-2014 models. Their findings indicated that, “seven earn the highest rating of superior when equipped with optional auto-brake and forward collision warning systems. They are the Cadillac ATS sedan and SRX SUV, Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan, Subaru Legacy sedan and Outback wagon, Volvo S60 sedan and XC60 SUV.”
There were also another six models that received the lower rating of advanced, and they are the 2014 Acura MDX SUV, Audi A4 sedan and Q5 SUV, 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV, Lexus ES sedan and the 2014 Mazda 6 sedan. These aside, an additional twenty-five entrants were rated basic, while the remaining thirty-six models did not come with any of the systems, so they were not rated.
One key piece of information which was dropped during the same report was the fact that these ratings will count towards calculating a car’s final safety credentials, and only cars that fare well in these tests will be eligible to receive the coveted safety awards the Institute hands out to good performers.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO