The Fiat 500 is only the 2nd minicar to get the IIHS's Top Safety Pick award.
The pint-sized Fiat 500 has received the top award for safety from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, making it only the second vehicle to land the coveted Top Safety Pick honors from the industry trade group.
The award applies to vehicles produced since mid-summer, when Fiat made critical modifications to its microcar, according to the IIHS. The changes to the front seat were rushed to market after an earlier test found the original U.S. version of the Fiat 500 faring poorly in one of the institute’s tests.
The upgrade reflects the steady improvement in crash performance by even the market’s smallest products. A steadily increasing number of compacts and subcompacts are coming through crash tests as well as bigger market offerings – though to date, only the Fiat 500 and the Ford Fiesta have qualified among minicars for Top Safety Pick status, meaning they received good scores in all the various IIHS test categories.
Roughly two dozen vehicles designated “small” cars, including the all-new Chevrolet Sonic, also get the Top Safety Pick award – which routinely winds up in a place of prominence in industry advertising.
The latest IIHS test of the Fiat 500 was a significant score for the Italian maker – now part of an alliance with Detroit’s Chrysler. Models built before July 2011 had been rated only “marginal,” according to the IIHS, in frontal crashes due to problems with the vehicle’s seats.
The IIHS tests are designed to simulate a variety of real world collisions – and include a frontal offset crash test that puts the driver’s side of the vehicle into a barrier at 40 mph, and a side-impact test rig that hits the side door at 31 mph. Reflecting new federal requirements the insurance industry-funded institute also uses a metal plate to test the crushability of the roof.
To earn a Top Safety Pick a vehicle must also now include electronic stability control as a standard feature – something that is now being mandated by federal law anyway.
Among the vehicles that didn’t get the minicar top award are the Mazda2, Honda Fit and Mini Cooper.