Toyota takes on IIHS Top Safety Picks

Just days after its public shouting match with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over sudden acceleration claims, Toyota is now arguing with the nation’s top private safety organization, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

On Wednesday, the IIHS released its list of Top Safety Picks for 2010. This year the Institute added a new roof strength test to its requirements for cars to receive the rating. That demanding criteria dramatically shortened the 2010 list.

In its press release announcing the results, IIHS called out Toyota for having no vehicles that qualified.

In response, yesterday Toyota called IIHS’s new methodology “extreme and misleading.” In a statement, Toyota Vice President of Public Affairs Irv Miller said, “There are 38 Toyota, Lexus, and Scion models, and only three were tested for roof strength by IIHS: Camry, RAV4, and Yaris.” He said all Toyota products meet government standards for roof crush. The new IIHS test for roof strength is much tougher than the government standard, which NHTSA looking to make more stringent.

Later yesterday, Russ Rader, an IIHS spokesman, essentially told Toyota to put up or shut up. He is quoted in the New York Times stating that all automakers were invited to nominate vehicles to be tested (and reimburse IIHS for the test.) “We don’t think there are automakers who would miss the opportunity to have their vehicles tested if they thought they met the criteria. We can only assume the [manufacturer’s other] vehicles would not do well for roof strength.”

While Toyota still has among the most reliable and fuel-efficient car lineups Consumer Reports has tested, the bloom may be coming off the company’s rose. While its cars generally do well in most safety measures, this pattern of blasting the messenger isn’t helping its public image, an image that is increasingly under attack.

Over time, the IIHS is expected to test more vehicles for roof strength. The test is performed by pressing a metal plate against one side of the roof at a constant speed. To earn a Good rating, a vehicle must withstand a force that is four times the vehicle’s weight before compressing five inches. This tough new test adds another dimension to the Top Safety Picks.

For information on how vehicles perform in government and IIHS crash tests, see the safety tabs in the model overview pages, available to online subscribers.

Watch more than 300 crash tests videos to see how vehicles perform in frontal offset and side-impact tests.

—Eric Evarts

Comments

[coolcar]

Toyota's vehicles, I have to agree, are not the safest on the road. Look at Scion! no model has done exceptionally well in the crash tests; same goes with some other models from Toyota and Lexus...