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CARS
Toyota

IIHS names 22 cars as Top Safety Pick Plus

Chris Woodyard
USA TODAY
An Infiniti Q50 undergoes the tough new small offset crash test to earn the higest safety rating from IIHS.
  • The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has named its top cars for safety
  • The highest category%2C Top Safety Pick Plus%2C involves a tough test that simulates running into a pole
  • Only 22 models passed

Note: An earlier version of this story omitted Acura RLX from the list of Top Safety Pick Plus cars and misidentified the car that has been restored to Consumer Reports' recommended list. It is the Toyota Camry.

Just when it looked like every new car on the road would earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick Plus designation, the rules get changed and the winners are winnowed down considerably.

Only 22 models now earn the IIHS' top award, coveted enough that it shows up endlessly in car advertising. To have won it, cars not only had to ace front, side, head restraint and roof crash tests, but the "small overlap crash test," which simulates crashing into a pole on the driver's side of the car.

That last test has been bedeviling automakers since it was introduced. Cars that had been on recommended lists for years suddenly found themselves failing. Automakers scrambled and make sure they could pass. Hence, Consumer Reports magazine today restores Toyota Camry to its recommended list now that it passes the IIHS tests.

"We've made it more difficult for manufacturers this year," says IIHS President Adrian Lund in a statement. "Following a gradual phase-in, the small overlap crash is now part of our basic battery of tests, and good or acceptable performance should be part of every vehicle's safety credentials."

Those passing all the tests include:

•Honda Civic hybrid

•Mazda3 built after October 2013

•Toyota Prius built after November 2013

•Ford Fusion

•Honda Accord 2-door

•Honda Accord 4-door

•Mazda6

•Subaru Legacy

•Subaru Outback

•Infiniti Q50

•Lincoln MKZ

•Volvo S60

•Acura RLX

•Volvo S80

•Mazda CX-5 built after October 2013

•Mitsubishi Outlander

•Subaru Forester

•Toyota Highlander

•Acura MDX

•Mercedes-Benz M-Class built after August 2013

•Volvo XC60 Honda Odyssey

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