Official: IIHS reports record year for Top Safety Picks, 18 new 2012 models added

Filed under: Safety

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced today that 2012 model year vehicles set a record for the number of highly valued Top Safety Pick awards earned: 115 total winners with 18 of those being brand new recipients.

The break down includes 69 cars, 38 SUVs, five minivans and three pickups, so if owning a Top Safety Pick award-winning vehicle is important to you, there are options available in every category.

As for which automakers earned the most awards, Toyota and its band of merry brands, which includes Lexus and Scion, racked up 15, while GM was next with 14, VW/Audi with 13, and Ford/Lincoln and Honda/Acura both with 12 awards each. Speaking of Honda and Acura, they win the award for most improved, as 10 of the 18 new models to receive the award come from their lineups. No automaker, however, was able to match Subaru's repeat performance of earning a Top Safety Pick award for every vehicle in its lineup.

The IIHS notes that automakers have come a long way since it began giving out Top Safety Pick awards back in 2005. At that time, only 11 models qualified. In fact, last year only 66 vehicles qualified because of less-than-stellar rollover ratings, but automakers apparently responded, addressing the issue in new models or redesigning roofs throughout the year.

The IIHS Top Safety Pick award stands as the private sector's counterpart to the government's own five-star rating system for vehicle safety conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Both litmus tests for safety have grown increasingly difficult for automakers to ace in recent years, but today's announcement shows that they're clearly up to the task.

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IIHS reports record year for Top Safety Picks, 18 new 2012 models added originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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