The 2017 Chevy Bolt during the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety offset crash testing.
Driving at night shouldn’t be considered a shot in the dark especially now that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released its 2017 Top Safety Pick + award winners that were largely set apart by meeting tougher headlight standards.
Toyota/Lexus leads manufacturers with nine 2017 Top Safety Pick + winners, including the updated Toyota Corolla, while Honda and its Acura division pick up five Top Safety Pick + awards.
While 38 vehicles achieved the top spots, another 44 vehicles were named Top Safety Picks. However, to get the “plus” ranking, the new vehicles must offer state-of-the-art protection for people in crashes, along with features that help drivers avoid crashes in the first place.
In addition to good or acceptable headlights, the latter includes automatic braking technology, which has been part of the criteria since 2015.
“The field of contenders is smaller this year because so few vehicles have headlights that do their job well, but it’s not as small as we expected when we decided to raise the bar for the awards,” says Adrian Lund, IIHS president.
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The 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe after it went through IIHS crash testing.
“Manufacturers are focusing on improving this basic safety equipment, and we’re confident that the winners’ list will grow as the year progresses.”
There has been a new focus on headlights and their role in the safety of vehicles. Recent statistics show that about half of all accidents happen in the dark or at dawn or dusk so having lights with good illumination is critical to reducing the number of crashes.
Among 2017 models, only seven are available with good-rated headlights. They are the Chevrolet Volt small car, Honda Ridgeline pickup, Hyundai Elantra small car, Hyundai Santa Fe midsize SUV, Subaru Legacy midsize car, Toyota Prius v midsize car and Volvo XC60 midsize luxury SUV.
In fact, several manufacturers improved headlights to earn the institute’s highest rating, including Subaru on the 2017 Forester as well as Mitsubishi and Toyota.
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Although many automakers are grabbing the low-hanging fruit that improved headlights represent, others are still working on the more challenging aspects of auto safety: crashworthiness.
Manufacturers continue to refine protection for people in small overlap crashes and fine-tune crash avoidance features.
The 2017 Corolla qualified the top award with a good rating for occupant protection in a small overlap crash and a superior rating for front crash prevention. The previous Corolla was rated marginal for small overlap protection, and the small car didn’t have an available front crash prevention system.
The 2017 winner’s circle includes 21 models with a standard front crash prevention system with automatic braking capabilities, including: the Acura MDX and RLX; Audi A3, A4, and Q7; Genesis G80 and G90; Lexus ES and RX; Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class; Toyota Avalon, Corolla, Prius, RAV4 and Yaris iA; Volkswagen Passat; and Volvo S60, S90, V60, XC60 and XC90.
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Automakers have voluntarily committed to making autobrake a standard feature on all models by 2022.