Only one out of thirteen vehicles passed a new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) test last week, as the 2014 Subaru Forester walked away with the highest honor possible after the crash test. The Forester earned a rating of “Good” in the small overlap front crash test, while the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport scored “Acceptable.”

That was enough to earn both models entry into TOP SAFETY PICK+ honors, the highest designation offered by the IIHS. The organization tested eleven other SUVs. How did they fare? Not so well. All of the Big Three had a vehicle that rated “Poor.” More...

This may come as no surprise, but the 2013 Volvo XC60 is very safe. The automaker that has built their reputation on safety announced today that their XC60 became the first SUV to be named a Top Safety Pick+, the highest possible honor given by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

To be named a Top Safety Pick+, vehicles must received a rating of Good in four out of five crash tests, and no lower than an Acceptable in the new small overlap frontal test. More...

Luke Skywalker, your racecar is ready. Actually, this is “Monster” Tajima during a practice run for the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The car is all-electric, and the absence of engine noise lets you hear the squeal of the tires in corners, and the gravel pinging off the bodywork as Tajima gets too close to the edge of the pavement.

Luxury cars come equipped with the best of everything—at least that’s the theory. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says some luxury cars don’t come with enough protection in a new test that evaluates a car’s crashworthiness by slamming it into a fixed barrier so that only part of the front end absorbs the impact. Eight 2012 model luxury or high-end cars were rated as marginal or poor in the test. Acura TL and Volvo S60 were the only cars to pass the new test.

What if the famous tunnel that’s part of a lap at the famous Monaco GP were longer? Say, 1.5 miles? How fast would a Formula 1 car get up to in that distance? About 190, if this video is any indication. That’s how fast ex-F1 driver David Coulthard took the Red Bull Racing Running Showcar through the Lincoln Tunnel that links New York and New Jersey. The tunnel, by the way, is just over 21 feet wide.

The test drive, long a highlight of the car-buying process, is fading away as more and more buyers choose cars based solely on magazine and website reviews, and buy them without ever driving the car first. This trend worries dealers, who see the test drive as their most effective tool for swaying undecided buyers, and also point out, apparently with a straight face, that you can’t always believe what you read, in contrast to what you hear from car salespeople, who are renowned for their unflagging honesty, integrity, and detailed product knowledge. More...

The Acura TL and Volvo S60 were the only two out of eleven luxury cars to pass a new crash test from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) with a “Good” rating, including the ones that earned positive reviews in traditional frontal crash tests.

The new test simulated a 40 mph crash where the corner 25-percent of the car strikes a five-foot tall object, such as a signpost or wall.

The IIHS calls this the small overlap frontal crash test. In a 2009 study, the IIHS test found that small overlap crashes account for nearly a quarter of frontal crashes involving serious or fatal injuries to front passengers.

"Nearly every new car performs well in other frontal crash tests conducted by the Institute and the federal government, but we still see more than 10,000 deaths in frontal crashes each year," said IIHS President Adrian Lund.

So then what took the IIHS so long to start this test? More...

Anyone who’s done research at a government library knows that those shelves are filled with useful, if sometimes nearly unfathomable, material. At the same time, such libraries are overburdened with the minutely detailed results of little-known, esoteric research that will be read by nearly no one. Even today, when so much research is done online rather than by consulting printed publications, a hefty proportion of the statistical information that’s available will rarely be consulted.

For that reason, Jayne O’Donnell earns credit for yeoman service in one of her recent automotive columns for USA Today. Why? Because she discovered, and reported on, a research project that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Issued in May 2012, the government report didn’t have an attention-grabbing title: Evaluation of the Enhancing Vehicle-to-Vehicle Crash Compatibility Agreement: Effectiveness and the Primary and Secondary Energy-Absorbing Structures on Pickup Trucks and SUVs. Sounds more like the subject of a quickly forgotten Ph.D dissertation than anything intended for light reading. O’Donnell noted that the report was “released quietly,” which seems to be the norm for a lot of government-ordered studies. But its subject is death by collision, and its findings with respect to pickup trucks are troubling.

According to this report, attempts to reduce the number of deaths in crashes between cars and light trucks over the past decade resulted in improvements with respect to SUVs. But not pickup trucks. More...

Are today’s cars really safer than yesterday’s? According to a recent government study, the statistically correct answer is “yes.”

Comparing 2008-model cars to 2000 models, analysts at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have found a significant decline in the likelihood of crashing. They also observed a greater likelihood of people surviving a crash without suffering injuries.

As outlined in a report recently issued, NHTSA believes that “safer vehicles have contributed to an overall decline in crashes, deaths and injuries.” To arrive at this conclusion, the federal safety agency analyzed data on crashes reported to the police, resulting in an estimate that “design improvements” over the eight-year period “helped save 2,000 lives.” Such improvements, in NHTSA’s estimation, also prevented a million occupant injuries during 2008 alone.

“Between better safety practices developed at the Department of Transportation and improved designs by automakers,” says U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, “we are making real progress.” More...