Toyota Ranks on Insurance Institute’s Top Safety Picks List

March 4, 2010

Although Toyota recently has come under fire for not addressing gas pedal problems in its vehicles that led to accidents and injuries, the company has had some positive safety news: The Scion xB and Toyota Corolla have earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Pick.

To qualify for Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must earn the highest rating of good in the Institute’s front, side, rollover, and rear impact tests and be equipped with electronic stability control. The xB and Corolla are the first Toyota models to earn Top Safety Pick since the Institute tightened the criteria to win by adding the new rollover test for 2010.

To earn a good rollover rating, a roof has to support the equivalent of four times the vehicle’s weight compared with the current federal standard of 1.5, IIHS said. In the Institute’s test, the xB’s roof withstood a force equal to 6.8 times the car’s weight. The Corolla’s roof supported 5.1 times the car’s weight.

The xB and Corolla also earned the 2009 Top Safety Pick award.

“Top Safety Pick recognizes the vehicles that afford buyers the best overall protection in common crashes,” says Institute president Adrian Lund. “With more top performers, there’s no reason to buy a small car with less than stellar crash test ratings.”

To read more about the Institute’s rollover test, visit www.iihs.org/ratings/roof/information.html.

Topics Auto

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