When Looking for a Used Family Car, Safety Comes First

When looking for used family cars for sale, you probably want to find something that is affordable, reliable, and safe. In order to find the safest vehicles on the used market, it is crucial to be familiar with the testing performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Here at Colonial Motor Mart, we have a commitment to finding you the safest cars for your family, whether you prefer a compact or full-size sedan, a minivan, or an SUV. Our goal is to get you the safest used family car so that you and your precious cargo can get to your destinations without any problems.

What Is the IIHS and How Does It Make Its Safety Picks?

I’m sure you’ve all seen the advertisements for various cars that say they have been awarded a Top Safety Pick from the IIHS. This is usually mentioned at the same time as the brand mentions other awards and accolades it has won, whether for the specific model featured in the commercial or for the entire company. But what is the IIHS, and how does it make its safety picks each year?

The IIHS is a private, independent, nonprofit organization that is dedicated to reducing deaths, injuries, and property damage caused by vehicular accidents. The organization’s funding comes from the various automobile insurance companies. It uses testing, research, and education to improve vehicular safety and backs policies related to that topic. Interestingly enough, the IIHS has been around since 1959, but it really began to have a big influence in the 1980s, as the automotive industry began to take note of increased consumer demand for safer cars.

The key to the IIHS is its independence. In other words, no automaker can influence its decision-making. That is why IIHS reviews, tests, and reports are vital sources of information for those seeking the safest cars. Every year, the IIHS conducts a series of tests on each new vehicle to determine its crashworthiness. The award winners are the ones that rank at or near the top of the list for their vehicle class. The IIHS then divides these into two groups: Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+.

In order to qualify as a Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must perform well in each of the six different crashworthiness tests performed by the IIHS. It must also have good headlights and both vehicular and pedestrian collision avoidance technologies. The Top Safety Pick+ designation looks at the same features but holds the vehicles to an even more rigorous standard. It should be noted that the IIHS continuously updates its standards, raising the bar for safety. This means that comparing vehicles across model years can be confusing, and sometimes vehicles will lose their Top Safety Pick designation even though no changes have been made.

Eight Tests and Verifications Performed By the IIHS

The IIHS has eight areas that it focuses on when determining the safety of each vehicle. First, the IIHS will perform a series of frontal crash tests based on the ones developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTS). There are three different types of frontal crash tests: the moderate overlap test, the driver-side small overlap test, and the passenger-side small overlap test. The IIHS will then look at test data to determine if the car in question performed satisfactorily to reduce passenger injury.

The second test is the side crash test. These types of collisions cause fully one-quarter of all deaths involving passenger vehicles each year in the United States. Fortunately, most recent cars come equipped with side airbags that can reduce or eliminate passenger injury from these types of crashes. The IIHS will review test data to determine potential passenger injury, head protection, and structural integrity.

One of the most dangerous types of accidents involves rollovers. This is where the car literally flips over. The IIHS will test the roof’s strength since the roof’s structural integrity will reduce the risk of injury or even death to passengers. Similarly, the IIHS will test the head and seat restraints as its fifth area of focus. Many times passengers can suffer whiplash as a result of rear-end collisions. This is the sudden jolting of the vehicle, resulting in injury to the head, neck, and spine. Preventing these types of injuries is vital to vehicular safety.

Not only does the IIHS test for the crashworthiness of a vehicle, but it also checks to see how the vehicle is equipped to help a driver avoid a frontal collision. The IIHS began performing this test in 2013, and it has paid off as more and more automakers are equipping their family vehicles with active safety features to reduce the risk of a frontal crash. The IIHS will next evaluate the headlights on the vehicle. This is especially important as headlights that do not produce sufficient illumination can impair the driver’s ability to avoid a collision with another vehicle, object, or even pedestrian at night. The headlight evaluation is often the reason why a particular model gets the coveted Top Safety Pick+ designation.

The seventh evaluation is of particular importance to parents looking to buy a family car. The IIHS found that a number of manufacturers provide a LATCH child-seat anchor system that is very difficult to use, while others have made it very easy to install a child safety car seat. The IIHS looks at the accessibility of the lower anchors, the force needed to attach the seat tethers to the anchors, and the clearance angle available for installing the seat. In short, the easier it is to install a car seat with the LATCH system, the better the rating.

The final part of the process is verification with the automaker to determine if any changes have been made to a vehicle, especially with respect to the safety systems. If there has been no material change, then the IIHS may allow the automaker to perform its own frontal crash tests and self-certify. However, while the IIHS may not be performing the tests for that year on that particular vehicle, it will check the data submitted by the automaker to make sure that it is in compliance with the verification process.

Used Family Cars That Are Top Safety Picks

If you have ever taken the time to go through the IIHS Top Safety Picks published every year, one of the things you are sure to notice is that the same vehicles seem to show up each and every year, almost always as a Top Safety Pick and often as a Top Safety Pick+. For example, if you are interested in a compact sedan, then you’ve seen that the Mazda 3 and Subaru Impreza seem to show up every year, as both have been rated a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ for every year since 2016.

Similarly, midsize sedans like the Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 6, Nissan Altima, and Toyota Camry also have made the list every year for the last five years. Crossovers like the Subaru Crosstrek and Outback also have gotten such accolades. As for alternative energy vehicles, the Toyota Prius made the list from 2016 to 2020, the Chevy Bolt was named a Top Safety Pick for 2017 and 2019, and the Hyundai Ioniq made the list as well for 2017 to 2019. The Chevy Volt was even a Top Safety Pick for 2017 and 2018.

Many popular SUVs and minivans have made the Top Safety Pick list as well. The Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4, and Subaru Forester have each been named either a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ for five straight years. Minivans like the Chrysler Pacifica and Honda Odyssey have also long maintained their positions on the Top Safety Pick list as well.

There are a number of crucial things to consider when reviewing the Top Safety Pick list before buying a used family car. First, the IIHS often lists certain optional features or equipment that make a vehicle a Top Safety Pick. If this is the case, make sure your choice is so equipped before making the purchase. Second, some cars undergo major changes signaling a new generation and thus may fall off the list. If this is the case, check to see which model years are considered Top Safety Picks so you will know the one to buy. There are also some vehicles that lose their Top Safety Pick Status even though no changes have been made because the IIHS has introduced stricter standards.

Buying a Safe Used Family Car Is Easier Than Ever

Now that you know where to look to find out an IIHS Top Safety Pick, you can head over to Colonial Motor Mart. We can’t wait to see you and help you find your family your next used Top Safety Pick car, minivan, or SUV. Just because a vehicle is an IIHS Top Safety Pick may not mean that it is perfect for your family, but we strongly encourage you to look for models that carry this prestigious designation.