The fact that car safety is improving is clear, as they need to pass increasingly stringent crash regulations. Even so, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (the IIHS), in 2014 (2015 model-year) the number of cars to obtain their highest Safety Pick+ and Safety Pick ratings has grown.
In the year that just ended, a total of 71 vehicles were awarded the top honors. That’s noticeably more than last year’s 39 vehicles and it’s split into 33 Top Safety Picks and 38 Top Safety Pick+ models.
IIHS President Adrian Lund said “this is the third year in a row that we are giving automakers a tougher challenge to meet.” He added that “although forward collision warning on its own is a valuable feature, we decided to tighten our criteria to encourage manufacturers to offer autobrake. Systems that don’t require a driver response to avoid or mitigate a crash have the most potential for reducing crashes.”
With the revised ratings system, some cars which had the plus rating will lose it if they don’t provide the possibility of AEB and other active crash mitigation systems. This is not necessarily bad as it marks out the difference between the best performing cars and the very best performing ones.
Check out the IIHS video posted below for the complete picture!