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2008 winners of Top Safety Pickaward number of winners increases; pickups eligible for firsttime.

Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pickaward for 2008. The award recognizes vehicles that do the best job ofprotecting people in front, side, and rear crashes based on ratings in theInstitute's tests. Winners also have to be equipped with electronicstability control (ESC), whichresearch shows can significantly reduce therisk of crashing.

Compared with last year, automakers have more than doubled thenumber of vehicles that meet criteria for Top SafetyPick. At the beginning of the 2007 model year, 13 models qualified,but as manufacturers have madechanges and introduced new and safervehicle designs, 10 additional vehicles qualified during the year. Nowanother are being added to the listfor2008. Designating winners based on the tests makes it easier for consumersto identify vehicles that afford the best overall protection withoutsifting through multiple sets of comparative crash test results.

'For 2008, consumers have the widest selection of vehicles they've ever had that afford the best protection in the most common kindsof crashes,' says Institute president Adrian Lund. Front and side impactsare the most common kinds of fatal crashes, killing nearly 25,000 of the31,000 vehicleoccupants who died in 2005. Rear-end crashes usually aren'tfatal, but they resultin a large proportion of the injuries that occur incrashes. About 60 percent of insurance injury claims in 2002 reportedminor neck sprains and strains.

All current car and minivan models, small and midsize SUVs, andsmall and large pickup trucks are eligible to win TopSafety Pick. Eight vehicles from Ford and its subsidiary, Volvo,make the list of winners for 2008. Seven winners are from Honda and itssubsidiary, Acura.

Winners have features that help avoid crashes:The Institute added a crash prevention criterion last year to earn Top Safety Pick. Winning vehicles have to be equippedwith ESC, which can help drivers avoid crashesaltogether. ESC is acontrol system comprised of sensors and a microcomputer that continuouslymonitors how well a vehicle responds to a driver's steering input andselectively applies the vehicle brakes and modulates engine power to keepthe vehicle traveling along the path indicated by the steering wheelposition. This technology helps prevent sideways skidding and loss ofcontrol that can lead to rollovers. ESC can help drivers maintain controlduring emergency maneuvers when their vehicles otherwise might spinout.

'Vehicles should be designed to provide good occupantprotectionwhen crashes occur, but now with ESC we have the possibility of preventingmany crashes altogether,' Lund says. 'If all vehicles were equipped withESC, as many as 10,000 fatal crashes could be avoided each year.' Institute research indicates that ESC reduces the risk of fatalsingle-vehiclecrashes by 56 percent and fatal multiple-vehicle crashes by32 percent. Many single-vehicle crashes involve rolling over, and ESCreduces the risk of fatal single-vehicle rollovers by 80 percent (SUVs)and 77 percent (cars).

For first time pickups are eligible: Pickuptrucks haven'tbeen eligible to win Top SafetyPick until now because the Institute hadn't begun side testingthem. The Toyota Tundra is first to qualify. Pickups aren't as likely ascars or SUVs to have side airbags or ESC, and Toyota has made thesefeatures standard in the Tundra.

'Pickups are among the top selling vehicles in the United States,' Lund points out. 'They're also more likely than in the past to beused as family vehicles, so equipping them with the latest safety featuresis important.'

Protection in rear impacts improves: Crash testshave driven major improvements in the designs of all kinds and sizes ofpassenger vehicles. The Institute began frontal crash tests for consumerinformation in 1995. Side tests were added in 2003 and rear tests in 2004.Most vehicles now earn good ratings in the frontal test, but significantdifferences still are apparent in vehicle performance in side and reartests.

Some manufacturers have been working to improve the ratings oftheir vehicles in the rear test. For example, the seat/head restraints in the Honda Accord, Element, and Odyssey as well as the BMW X3 and X5 arerated good compared with previous designs that were rated marginal orpoor. Audi improved the design of seat/head restraints in the A3 fromacceptable to good. Another 23 vehicles would have won 2008 awards if theyhad good seat/head restraint designs. Toyota could have claimed 10 moreawards, including 3 for Lexus models. Nissan and Volkswagen could havepicked up 4 awards apiece.

Another area where safety is improving is occupant protection inside impacts. More 2008 model vehicles include as standard equipment sideairbags designed to protect people's heads. The Saturn was side testedtwice. In the first test, the side curtain airbag didn't deploy properly,and the head of the dummy positioned in the back seat was struck by thesill of the window in the door. This impact didn't produce high head injury measures, but head protection was inadequate. In response, General Motorsredesigned the side curtain airbag to ensure more rapid inflation andbetter coverage of the airbag next to the dummy's head. In the secondtest, the fix was successful, and the VUE's side rating improved fromacceptable to good. Top Safety Pick applies toVUEs built after December 2007.

Each year, the Institute offers to test TopSafety Pick candidates early in the model year. The policy is formanufacturers to reimburse the Institute for the cost of vehicles if thetests aren't part of the group's regular schedule. TopSafety Pick is presented by vehicle size because size and weightare closely related, and both influence how well occupants will beprotected in serious crashes. Larger, heavier vehiclesgenerally affordbetter protection in crashes than smaller, lighter ones.

How the vehicles are evaluated: The Institute'sfrontal crashworthiness evaluations are based on results of frontal offsetcrash tests at 40 mph. Each vehicle's overall evaluation is based onmeasurements of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury measuresfrom a Hybrid III dummy in the driver seat, and analysis of slow-motionfilm to assess how well the restraint system controlled dummy movementduring the test.

Each vehicle's overall side evaluation is based on performance ina crash test in which the side of the vehicle is struck by a barrier moving at 31 mph that represents the front end of a pickup or SUV. Ratings reflect injury measures recorded on two instrumented SID-IIs dummies,assessment of head protection countermeasures, and the vehicle'sstructural performanceduring the impact. Injury measures obtained fromthe two dummies, one in the driver seat and the other in the back seatbehind the driver, are used todetermine the likelihood that a driverand/or passenger in a real-world crashwould have sustained seriousinjury. The movements and contacts of the dummies' heads during the crashalso are evaluated. Structural performance is based onmeasurementsindicating the amount of B-pillar intrusion into the occupant compartment.

Rear crash protection is rated according to a two-step procedure.Starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry the height of a restraint and its horizontal distancebehind the back of the head of an average-size man. Seats with good oracceptable restraint geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy thatmeasures forces on the neck. This test simulates a collision in which astationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph. Seats without good oracceptable geometry are rated poor overall because they can't bepositioned to protect many people

11 NEWWINNERS FOR 2008

Midsize cars
Audi A3
Honda Accord

Small car
Subaru Impreza equipped with optionalelectronic stability control

Minivan
Honda Odyssey

Midsize SUVs
BMW X3
BMW X5
Hyundai Veracruz built after August2007
Saturn VUE built after December2007
Toyota Highlander
Small SUV
Honda Element

Large pickup
Toyota Tundra

ALL 34 WINNERS

Large cars
Audi A6
Ford Taurus with optional electronicstability control
Mercury Sable with optional electronicstability control
Volvo S80

Midsize cars
Audi A3, A4
Honda Accord
Saab 9-3
Subaru Legacy with optional electronicstability control

Midsize convertibles
Saab 9-3
Volvo C70

Small car
Subaru Impreza with optional electronicstability control


Minivans
Honda Odyssey
Hyundai Entourage
Kia Sedona

Midsize SUVs
Acura MDX, RDX
BMW X3, X5
Ford Edge, Taurus X
Honda Pilot
Hyundai Santa Fe
Hyundai Veracruz built after August2007
Lincoln MKX
Mercedes M class
Saturn VUE built after December 2007
Subaru Tribeca
Toyota Highlander
Volvo XC90

Small SUVs
Honda CR-V, Element
Subaru Forester with optional electronicstability control

Large pickup
Toyota Tundra

ALSO RANS
Twenty-three vehicles earn good ratings in front and side crashtests. They have ESC, standard or optional. They would be 2008 Top Safety Pick winners if their seat/head restraintsalso earned good ratings:

Acura RL, TLBMW 3 series Chrysler Sebring convertibleInfiniti M35/M45Kia AmantiLexus IS 250/350, ES 350, GS 350/460Nissan Pathfinder, Xterra both withoptional side airbagsNissan QuestToyota Avalon, Camry, FJ Cruiser, 4Runner, Prius, RAV4, andSiennaVolkswagen Eos, Jetta, Passat, Rabb