New, even higher safety standards have been announced by The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for awarding its Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ honors to 2020 models.
Only 64 of the 219 new models evaluated actually earned TSP ratings, and only 23 of those earned the TSP+ award, which is the industry’s most comprehensive crash-testing criteria and its most coveted safety award.
“We’re identifying what the real safety problems are from real-world crash data, and how to best protect occupants in a vehicle, or how to prevent a crash from happening,” ~ David Harkey – IIHS President
The IIHS (a nonprofit) runs vehicles through six crash tests and assesses the functionality of headlights and automatic emergency braking to develop a safety rating. For 2020 TSP awards, IIHS added three new elements aimed at safeguarding pedestrians and vehicle occupants.
First, the passenger-side small overlap test that mimics the right side of a car hitting another car or pole must be rated “Good,” up from “Acceptable” last year.
Second, automatic emergency braking must be offered with pedestrian detection. From 2009 through 2018, pedestrian fatalities have spiked 53% yet traffic fatalities have increased by only 8%, according to the IIHS.
“Rewarding technology that protects people outside the vehicle is new territory for the TSP awards, but we believe vehicle manufacturers have an important role to play in protecting vulnerable road users,” Harkey said.
