[bwilson4web]

GOOD NEWS

http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr052611.html

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TOP SAFETY PICK. Winners are the 2012 Ford Focus and Honda Civic, along with the 2011 Hyundai Elantra, Lexus CT 200h hybrid, Nissan Juke, and Toyota Prius hybrid. The Civic, CT 200h, Elantra, Focus, and Prius have at least one version with a government fuel economy rating of at least 40 miles per gallon on the highway. The Dodge Caliber, Honda CR-Z and Insight hybrids, Nissan Sentra and Versa, Scion xD, and Suzuki SX4 also were rated but didn't earn TOP SAFETY PICK.

"The list of cars with the best fuel economy now includes those with the highest crash test ratings in their class, too," says David Zuby, the Institute's chief research officer. "At a time of high gasoline prices, consumers have never had a bigger selection of small cars that earn TOP SAFETY PICK."
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Back Ground

The ZVW30 Prius had earned a top safety pick in 2009 when the IIHS changed their test to include stronger-force, roof crushing, part of the rollover protection test. So the IIHS took the newest model Prius out of their top safety picks after just six months under the earlier standard, and made sure it was advertised at the time. When it was pointed out Toyotas were taken out because IIHS had 'moved the goal posts,' they snarkly claimed that Toyota could provide more vehicles and funding to have their cars retested ('Pay us and we'll retest your unsafe cars.')

Had it been a simple case of bad timing between Toyota and the IIHS, it would be a fair thing to point out the test had changed. Instead, the IIHS implied the Toyotas had failed when in fact the test had been changed and was a top pick under the previous test. Understand that I approve of product and process improvement including safety tests. However, a change to the test should not suddenly take away a top safety pick until the vehicle has been retested. It would be simple enough to put an asterisk by the models not yet retested versus removal of a vehicle that had passed the previous test.

Bob Wilson