Ford Has Most Top Safety Picks

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) issued its awards list of Top Safety Picks for 2009 and Ford comes out on top with 16 awards. If there is any doubt that these guys are working hard to compete with their foreign counterparts I think this helps clear it up. And if that doesn’t convince you Consumer Reports also gave Ford serious kudos last month reporting that Ford vehicles are now on par with Toyota and Honda. The CR survey is in the Best & Worst for '09 guide on newsstands now.

Honda comes next with 13 awards, then GM and Toyota tie with 8 each. The IIHS also calls attention to Honda, Acura and Subaru for having at least one Top Safety Pick in every vehicle class that they compete.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC), which senses when a driver is losing control and adjusts accordingly to avoid a skid or rollover, is required in all vehicles by 2012, but mandatory now if you want to achieve a Top Safety Pick.  The adoption of this feature among many important others is behind manufacturers doubling the number of vehicles that achieved the safety this year versus last.

That’s good news for everybody on the road.