The automobile market is lightning into the future like never before. Each car manufacturer faces numerous competition to make their place in the market. Thus, car producers now primarily focus on providing the best driving experience to their customers be it in terms of performance, comfort, luxury, or safety.
From the perception of practicality, safety features in a car is more crucial than comfort or any other aspects of driving. However, many people still do not prioritize it while owning their cars. But again, if you are feeling baffled to choose among the safest cars in the market, you have just got into the right place. This article walks you through the countdown of the safest wheels to get your hands behind.
Below are the Top Five Brands producing the safest cars around the world:
1. Volvo
Volvo is a Swedish manufacturing company explicitly known for leading the charts in IIHS safety reports for the past few years. In fact, Volvo has proudly advertised their priority in passenger safety and their cars’ robust integrity.
Talking about their vehicles, altogether 15 models from different categories were awarded Top Safety Pick+ award from IIHS in 2021. To categorize them, 5 mid-luxury cars (S60 and V60 variants), 4 large luxury cars (S90 and V90 variants), 2 small SUVs (XC 40 and XC 40 Recharge), and 4 large SUVs (XC60 and XC90 variants) are the ones to get awarded. This is the highest number of models from a single brand to attain such the highest safety award. In addition to that, almost all of these vehicles have received a 5-star rating from NHTSA.
To attain such intense safety, Volvo has a City Safety system installed on its vehicles. This system depends on data fed through the onboard cameras and sensors. They also have Volvo Steering Support to deviate cars from collisions if the system detects potential accidents. Another remarkable feature that Volvo cars have is Pilot Assist with adaptive cruise control. Most of the aforementioned features are available on standard models although differences can be observed in multiple variants.
In a word, Volvo leads the chart because it is worthy as it has exceptional safety systems with a combination of advanced technology. It is the safest car brand for 2021-22.
2. Audi
Commonly known for its diverse columns in the automobiles market, Audi not only produces luxurious vehicles but also manufactures safer ones. Like other top-class European automakers, Audi has stepped into considering safety issues along with glamor in their products.
As per the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award winners list, Audi has stood as a brand with the second-highest number of automobiles on the list. Reviewing the facts, Audi has a total of 7 models awarded as the safest. In particular, 3 large luxury cars (A6, A6 Wagon, and A7 Hatchback), 2 mid-luxury SUVs (Q5 and Q5 Sportback), and 2 large SUVs (e-tron and e-tron Sportback) were awarded by the institute.
To layout special features, Audi has provided automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection to almost all of its standard vehicles; however complex features depend upon prices and options. Apart from these, Audi vehicles come with advanced safety systems like parking assist, night vision assistant, and traffic monitoring. Likewise, Audi also supports adaptive cruise control.
Overall, let’s not perceive Audi as a luxury brand but consider it safer too. The newly developed security features are really good to keep you safe even after an accident.
3. Mazda
This Japanese automaker is exclusively known for its best affordable price range with excellent driving experiences. However, Mazda has focused on providing luxury-level performances with best-in-class driver assistant technology and safety features. This car giant is making progress in the latter field tremendously as most cars from its lineup are awarded the highest safety awards.
Just to mention, back in 2021, IIHS awarded 7 models from Mazda with Top Safety Pick+ awards. Except for a few, almost all of Mazda’s productions are selected as winners. Mazda and Audi tie with each other in comparison to the number of cars to get awarded. To elaborate, 2 small cars (Mazda 3 Hatchback and Sedan), 1 midsize car (Mazda 6 Sedan), 3 small SUVs (CX-3, CX-30, and CX-5), and 1 mid-SUV (CX-9) are the winning models of Mazda. All mentioned models are attested with a 5-star rating by NHTSA.
Mazda has been able to raise its safety standards through various advanced features like traffic light monitoring, rain-sensing windshield wiper, low-speed automatic braking, and pedestrian detection. These features are available on most variants and some higher end-options may contain even more. In addition, there are some high-tech systems like driver monitoring, lane assist, and automatic high beam headlights.
In a nutshell, Mazda has successfully managed to uplift its name from a reasonable-priced carmaker to the best midrange carmaker with exceptional security systems that assures safety like no time past.
4. Honda
Honda is known by every car enthusiast to have the excellent build quality and superb driving experiences. A list with top-rated safety cars would literally be dumb without Honda on it. Honda is accepted to be one of the most reliable cars around the world because of its long-lasting rigidity and flawless driving assistance. Furthermore, Honda has managed to sustain a firm position in IIHS safest cars list this year also.
While going through the list, one can find Honda with 5 different models claimed as the safest cars back in 2021. The number enlisted in the list is increasing year by year and this is a really good scenario for people who are looking for safer Honda automobiles. To expand further, the list includes 3 small cars (Civic Hatchback, Civic Sedan, and Insight Sedan), 1 midsize car (Accord Sedan), and 1 minivan (Odyssey minivan). In fact, Honda is one of the two companies (another being Toyota) to get a Top Safety Pick+ for a category of 8-seater minivan for the year 2021.
Moreover, NHTSA has provided multiple higher ratings after crash testing Honda automobiles. Everybody knows Honda is the pioneer for road safety technologies. The safety system of Honda comprises of exclusive Honda Sensing Technology which is further assisted by Lane Watch. The sensing suite is an accumulation of numerous advanced features like traffic sign recognition, lane assist, blind-spot monitoring, road departure mitigation, and many more. Almost for all except base models, Honda provides the aforementioned systems inbuilt with the cars during purchase.
In brief, Honda has always been known as a safer and smoother car when compared with others. It is also praised for its small comfortable family cars as well as SUVs.
5. Subaru
Subaru is a Japanese car manufacturing company with a successful past and a promising future because of its all-wheel drive train system, exclusive off-roading experience, and vigorous safety technologies. It is not a matter of jolt that Subaru has been qualified among the safest cars in the world. This young automaker has consistently proved to improve durability and performance and thus has been taken into the list of safest cars.
Although Subaru has a relatively small auto lineup, most of its cars, 5 to be exact, have been selected by IIHS to award them as Top Safety Pick+. To illustrate the details, IIHS included Subaru’s 1 small car (Crosstrek Hybrid), 2 mid-size cars (Legacy Sedan and Outback Wagon), 1 small SUV (Forester), and 1 mid-size SUV (Ascent) in the safest cars list. On top of that, most of these vehicles have passed the NHTSA crash test with 5-star ratings.
Subaru has developed its own out of the state technological safety systems to tackle potential accidents on highways. The most popular among them is Pre-Collision Braking which is further assisted by EyeSight Driver Assist Technology. The EyeSight assistance is claimed to lower down the rear-end crashes by nearly 80%. Some other features are rain-sensing windshield wipers, automatic high beams, and reverse emergency braking. For its generosity, Subaru has included almost all of these features right from the base models apart for some exceptions.
Briefly, Subaru is a juvenile automaker with a high sense of safety and driving performance. It is a trustworthy brand for safer family cars or a robust sports lineup.
Conclusion
To sum up, almost all auto manufacturers are now considering the safety concerns of their vehicles. However, Volvo, Audi, Mazda, Honda, and Subaru have managed to produce the highest numbers of safest cars for 2021-22. The ratings are based upon reports from rigorous crash testing done by IIHS and NHTSA.