For the first time, good performance in a roof strength test was required to win a Top Safety Pick designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The addition of the roof strength criterion recognizes manufacturers with vehicles that provide good protection in rollovers, which kill more than 9,000 people in passenger vehicles each year.
“With the addition of our new roof strength evaluation, our crash test results now cover all four of the most common kinds of crashes,” said IIHS president Adrian Lund.
Nineteen cars and eight SUVs earned the Top Safety Pick award for 2010. This marks the second time the Institute has tightened criteria since announcing the first recipients in 2005.
Subaru is the only manufacturer with a winner in all four vehicle classes in which it competes, earning five awards for 2010.
Ford and subsidiary Volvo have six winners, and Volkswagen/Audi have five.
But, not a single model from Toyota (the world’s largest automaker in terms of sales) and its Lexus and Scion subsidiaries was represented among this year’s winners.
Four other manufacturers whose vehicles earned Top Safety Pick in the past didn’t have a qualifying vehicle for 2010: BMW; Mazda; Mitsubishi; and Saab.
The Honda Accord picked up the award the past two years, but the 2010 model didn’t earn the required good roof strength rating to qualify. The Ford Fusion is another mid-size car that dropped off of the list for the same reason.