This is good news for hybrids lover. According to Insurance Institute for Highway Safety or IIHS which announced the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight to get Top Safety Pick award based on front, side, and rear crash testing. This award makes a clear statement that hybrids not just fuel efficient but can also get high level of safety too.
Toyota Prius on all its model and Honda Insight on the Insight EX and LX models has requirements to earn the IIHS Top Safety Pick award. Prius and Insight has good ratings in ratings in all three tests (front, side, and rear crash testing) and offer electronic stability control too.
The Toyota Prius Hybrid has an average efficiency rating of 51 mpg, this rating make it as the most fuel efficient vehicle on the market today. The Honda Insight has a combined city and highway rating of 41 mpg.
The IIHS’s side test simulates a crash with a pickup truck or SUV going at 31 mph. The frontal test they use vehicle that have same weight as the test car and moving at 0 mph. The insurance group also simulates a stationary vehicle being rear-ended by a car moving at 20 mph. The test result tell us that the side crash test results apply no matter what size cars we are comparing, but in the front crash test results are meaningful only when you using the same weight comparing models.
In the Honda Insight’s front crash test, the side curtain air bag prevented the dummy’s head from any hitting structures, although there was a risk of rib fractures in the side impact test – but the risk is slightly. In the Toyota Prius’s frontal test, the driver’s head hit the pillar (but the impact was relatively low) between the back and the front windows. The driver dummy’s head suffered slightly more on an impact when the car hit the steering wheel though the air bag.
The video of 2009 Toyota Prius crash test
