Record number of vehicles get safety award

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said a record 115 vehicle models received the Top Safety Pick award for 2012.

The institute said 69 cars, 38 sport utility vehicles, five minivans and three pickups received the award. It recognizes vehicles that best protect people in the four most common types of crashes -- front, side, rollover and rear crashes -- based on ratings in institute evaluations.

The 2012 winners include 18 new recipients and 97 that won the award in 2011.

"For the second year running, a record number of models qualify," Institute President Adrian Lund said in a news release. "It's tough to win, and we commend auto manufacturers for making safety a top priority."

Every major automaker had at least one winner, while Subaru, with five awards, was the only manufacturer to earn one for every model it builds.

Toyota/Lexus/Scion had 15 winners for 2012 models, more than any other auto manufacturer, followed by General Motors, with 14; Volkswagen/Audi, 13; and Ford/Lincoln and Honda/Acura, with 12 each.

Ten of the new additions for 2012 are Honda/Acura models.

The institute said vehicles that had good ratings for rollover protection have roofs more than twice as strong as required by federal standards -- which reduces the risk of serious or fatal injury in single-vehicle rollovers by about 50 percent compared with roofs meeting the minimum federal requirement.