Four Volkswagen models awarded the best grade of "top safety pick" by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

WOLFSBURG – 13, October, 2008: Four Volkswagen models at once were awarded the best grade of "top safety pick" in the most recent publication of the independent US safety institute, "Insurance Institute for Highway Safety". The models Golf, Jetta, Passat and Eos each earned the best evaluation in their respective categories, thus winning the renowned prize for themselves. Together with this same outstanding safety award presented to the Tiguan in August, these new awards place Volkswagen among the car manufacturers with the most top safety picks.

The Golf, which is sold in the USA under the name Rabbit, received the coveted award in the compact class. The Jetta and Passat were victorious in the midsize car class. The Eos won in the category "midsize convertible".

In order to examine the safety standards of all types of passenger cars, the IIHS has been conducting crash tests for the American insurance business regularly since 1995. The successful performance of the five Volkswagen models is the result of a frontal, a side and a rear crash test which each car underwent in the USA.

To test their crashworthiness, the cars were subjected to a frontal collision at 40 mph (64 km/h) and a side crash at 31 mph (50 km/h) against a movable barrier in the shape of the front of a pickup truck or an SUV. In addition, the seat behaviour during a rear-end crash was tested.
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budfrogS4 - 10/14/2008 12:18:32 PM

+7 Boost

and a few acronyms...ie fwd, pos

he still hasn't been banned?

abcd - 10/14/2008 10:59:19 AM

-4 Boost

That`s good that Volkswagen upgraded its crash safety , becouse in past a Jetta and a Passat performed below average in the IIHS crash-tests , the 1997 Jetta had only marginal rating and the 1995 Passat had poor rating :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW1-Qz42JMM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fsptl3_Oes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSBLlh7m-eI&feature=related

abcd - 10/14/2008 4:33:22 PM

-3 Boost

Yes , becouse that is showing , in my opinion , who has been doing safe cars for years thus really cares about peoples safety and who only recently started doing safe cars becouse of official crash tests . The same can be said about other factors like for example reliability . Builing peoples reliance to some automaker takes years .

S4cabriofoxone - 10/14/2008 11:21:57 PM

+2 Boost

Well, this is 2008 now. In 2008 Volkswagen is the brand with the four top-rated models. What is in the past stays in the past.

I should also add that Audi has been a leader in safety for the past few years. In 2006 four Audis received the "Double Best Pick" award from the IIHS; last year some of them got this one because "DBP" wasn't given out any more. I expect more this year. The new A4 already got a five-star rating.

abcd - 10/16/2008 3:46:23 PM

+1 Boost

"The 2008 Lexus GS and LS also get marginal ratings for rear crash protection!"

I`m curious if the tested LS was equipped in the rear pre crash system becouse it`s probably optional . LS equipped in that system could better protect from rear crashes becouse of special seat bolster :

http://www.lexus.eu/range/ls/key-features/safety/safety-rear-pre-crash-safety.aspx

goojman - 10/14/2008 12:15:12 PM

-8 Boost

This assumes that your VW will acutally be out on the road at risk of being in an accident instead of it being at the dealership getting repaired. VW's makes nice looking cars with lovely interiors and they drive well but I have 9 friends who have one and each one of them has a reliability horror story to tell about VW. VW has been like this for at least a two decades so I don't know what the hell their problem is with quality and reliability. Hyundai is relatively new to the market and now far surpasses VW in quality and reliability. Get your shit together VW. If you did, you would have man thousands more sales in the U.S.

abcd - 10/14/2008 2:29:06 PM

0 Boost

Autobild`s ( German weekly magazine ) strip-down tests confirms your friends experiences . Autobild is testing cars reliability on 100000 km distance reporting problems and after every test they are also disassembling tested car to search defects . Their latest test and summary table of previous tests at the bottom of the page is in a link below :

http://www.autobild.de/artikel/dauertest-vw-passat-variant-2.0-tdi_785569.html

abcd - 10/14/2008 5:07:38 PM

-4 Boost

"Here's some better info about VW's reliability."

I think VW Golf , Jetta , Eos reliability , VW`s most reliable cars , and what about other VW cars ? In Autobild strip down test Golf 1.4 after redesign also did good :

http://www.autobild.de/artikel/200.000-kilometer-dauertest-vw-golf-v_524784.html

"A sample size of one is useless."

Yes but sample size doesn`t matter when there are errors in a car project . As you can see the new Golf V is doing well in the Autobild test with one sample size and also in the large sample size Consumer Reports .

I think Toyota Camry reliability was affected for the same reason as Toyotas (e.g.Avensis) in Europe . The 2003 Toyota Avensis was first ( if I remember correctly ) Toyota to be in majority designed ( not only looks but structurally ) in Europe . And we know that when it comes to reliability ( as history have shown ) Europeans not always get it right , at least more rarely than Japanese .

abcd - 10/14/2008 6:04:49 PM

-2 Boost

The ADAC statistics aren`t credible when it comes to whole reliability history of cars , we discussed that some time ago :
http://www.autospies.com/news/VW-ahead-of-BMW-in-resale-value-rankings-35273/
--------------
Consumer Reports data:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/used-cars/cr-recommended/the-best-worst-used-cars-406/overview/index.htm
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"The Japanese manufacturers have a closed home market"

Yea , often heared from peoples who very , very ... "don`t like" Japanese cars and haven`t enough arguments .

"and that hurt quality for a while in the nineties. "

Even in other years than 90`s Japanese cars have been often more reliable . Examples :
This is what Clarkson said about first datsuns that arrived to britain ( 3:00 ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3GFnI_T3_w

Here is about Datsun engines compared to Austin`s :

http://www.earlydatsun.com/austin.html

abcd - 10/14/2008 6:05:14 PM

-2 Boost

The ADAC statistics aren`t credible when it comes to whole reliability history of cars , we discussed that some time ago :
http://www.autospies.com/news/VW-ahead-of-BMW-in-resale-value-rankings-35273/
--------------
Consumer Reports data:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/used-cars/cr-recommended/the-best-worst-used-cars-406/overview/index.htm
--------------
"The Japanese manufacturers have a closed home market"

Yea , often heared from peoples who very , very ... "don`t like" Japanese cars and haven`t enough arguments .

"and that hurt quality for a while in the nineties. "

Even in other years than 90`s Japanese cars have been often more reliable . Examples :
This is what Clarkson said about first datsuns that arrived to britain ( 3:00 ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3GFnI_T3_w

Here is about Datsun engines compared to Austin`s :
http://www.earlydatsun.com/austin.html

abcd - 10/16/2008 3:27:21 PM

0 Boost

TurboSpyder , have I ever said that they haven`t 95% of the Japanese market ? Having 95% of the market isn`t any proof that they have closet market , so stop talking not on subject .
Fact is that Europe Union has 10% duty on the Japanese produced cars and in past the duty was even bigger . European carmakers have feared to compete with Japanese on the free market for a long time .

abcd - 10/17/2008 2:52:03 PM

+1 Boost

"The fact that Japanese auto manufacturers have 95% of the Japanese market **is proof to most people** that the Japanese market is closed."

I think the best respond to that comment is your own comment from near past :
"you're reasoning most of the time is along the lines of saying, for example, that if a student who got 60% on a final exam answered a question correctly that another student who got 95% on the exam missed, then the 60% student is equal to the 95% student."

http://www.autospies.com/news/Volkswagen-Outstrips-Toyota-To-Be-Worlds-Biggest-Market-Value-Automaker-35728/

Is American computer software market also closet becouse of big market share of the Microsoft ?

I think this maybe even is other way around -> VW maybe has such a big market share in the Europe becouse of tariffs on the cars produced in Japan . And that tariffs are *direct proof* , how many % of market share they have isn`t proof .
Maybe the Japanese had closed aftermarket parts market for some reason , I don`t know what reason , US goverment could earlier request to open Japanese aftermarket parts market to US firms .
And have you ever heard about VW law ?:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3738730.stm

goojman - 10/14/2008 12:19:59 PM

-4 Boost

And those VW lovers who claim that the Rabbit and Jetta have done well of late in reliability only reference the initial reliability survey. Take a look at VW's reliability and quality ratings after 3 years of ownership and you will see that VW's quality/reliability ranking is abysmal if you own it more than 3 years. Pathetic.

chewy - 10/14/2008 1:12:36 PM

+3 Boost

some good results there for Volkswagen.

Type707 - 10/15/2008 1:15:27 PM

+1 Boost

Its no suprise to me that VW has been ranked one of the highest in safety. They've been for several years already.

goojman - 10/15/2008 2:01:54 PM

+2 Boost

Take a look at VW's reliability and quality ratings after 3 years of ownership and you will see that VW's quality/reliability ranking is abysmal if you own it more than 3 years. Pathetic.