Not one U.S. manufactured vehicle made the U.S. Insurance Industry's list of safest vehicles this year. The snub was due to a new regulation that calls for all cars and sports utility vehicles have systems to keep them stable in an emergency. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety claims that the new requirement is being applied because studies show up to 10,000 fatal crashes per year could be prevented if every vehicle had such a system. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed that the electronic stability control be on new vehicles by the 2012 model year.
Instead, import models took all 13 spots. On the list for the 2007 model year include the Audi A6 in the large car category; the Audi A-4; Saab 9-3; and the Subaru Legacy with optional stable control for midsize cars. Others to make the list are the Hyundai Entourage and Kia Sedona minivans; the Mercedes M-Class and the Volvo XC90 luxury sport utility vehicles; the Acura RDX, Honda Pilot and Subaru B9 Tribeca (pcitured) midsize SUVs; and the Honda CR-V and Subaru Forester small SUVs.
The list claims that all 13 vehicles are best in protecting people in front, side and rear collision tests.
According to the Insurance Institute, Ford would have had three cars on the list if it had installed the electronic stability control. They are the Ford Freestyle crossover, the Mercury Montego, and the Ford 500 sedan. Ford spokesman Jim Cain said that these vehicles will have the electronic stability control in the 2008 model year. The company has not decided whether the feature will be standard or optional.
General Motors said that it would make the feature standard on all its vehicles by 2010 including SUVs and some full size pickups in the 2007 model year.
Toyota has said that electronic stability control would be standard on all its models by 2009.
DaimlerChrysler AG will have the technology on more than half of its models this model year.
Honda's 2007 SUVs, pickups and minivans have the technology and Hyundai said it is standard on 70 percent of its 2007 vehicles.
The Honda Civic, which topped the list last year, did not appear because it did not have the stability control on most models. The one model that has the feature did not make the list because it does not have head restraints for rear crash protection, the Institute said. No small cars made the list this year.