We’ve
been surrounded by family and friends these past few months, with the
holidays bringing us some extra vacation time to spend together. We get
a lot of questions about car safety at Ask Patty and often you want to
know just what are the safest vehicles available. Well, CNN Mo
ney did the testing for us!
They
pulled together the vehicles that scored the best in side-, front- and
rear-impact tests performed by the Insurance Institute of Highway
Safety. Here are the top 13 safest vehicles for 2007, and a little bit
of CNN’s review:
Acura RDX – “As with all Honda SUVs, electronic stability control,
which helps prevent vehicles from going out of control or flipping over
in emergency maneuvers, comes as standard equipment on the RDX.”
Audi A4 – “With improvements to the Audi's seats, the A4 and larger A6 earned the Insurance Institute's Top Safety Pick award.”
Audi A6 – “The A6 was close to making the cut last year, but it was
hampered by a merely "Acceptable" performance in whiplash protection.”
It came back this year with a vengeance!
Honda CR-V – “The CR-V shares some of its basic engineering with the Honda Civic.”
Honda Pilot – “Like all Honda SUVs, it comes standard with electronic stability control.”
Hyundai Entourage – “The Entourage is Hyundai's new minivan. The Kia
Sedona is essentially the same vehicle with relatively minor
differences.”
Kia Sedona – “The Sedona has a smooth and quiet ride, comfortable interior and solid build quality.”
Mercedes-Benz M-class – “It handles well and, according to the
Insurance Institute's tests, offers excellent protection in the event
of a wreck.”
Saab 9-3 – “The 9-3 offers excellent handling and performance for a front-wheel drive car.”
Subaru B9 Tribeca – “Its peculiar design may not suit your tastes, but the Tribeca does perform very well in crash tests.”
Subaru Forester – “For the Forester, stability control is available only on the Sports 2.5 XT version.”
Subaru Legacy – “Aside from its strong performance in the Insurance
Institute's very demanding crash tests, the Legacy also offers
all-wheel-drive.”
Volvo XC90 – “Ford's Swedish luxury brand makes the cut this year with its XC90 SUV.”
So
there you have it! The safest cars of 2007. Make sure one of your new
year’s resolutions is to be safe while driving this year. To research
more vehicles and their safety ratings, visit Safecar.gov.
To
find one of these safe vehicles at a Female Friendly dealer near you,
make sure you use our Dealer search tool at the top of the page.
