Safiest cars

These cars earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award.

That means they earned the best possible ratings front, side and rear impact protection and they are available with electronic stability control.

Acura MDX
The MDX is a midsized SUV with a third row of seats in the back, but it feels stable and handles surprisingly well for a vehicle of its size.








Acura RDX
The Acura RDX shares some of its basic engineering with the Honda CR-V, which was also awarded a Top Safety Pick award by the Insurance Institute. As with all Honda SUVs, electronic stability control, which helps prevent vehicles from going out of control or flipping over in emergency maneuvers, comes as standard equipment on the RDX.





Audi A4
The A4 was close to making the cut last year, but it was hampered by a merely "Acceptable" performance in whiplash protection. With improvements to the Audi's seats, the A4 and larger A6 earned the Insurance Institute's Top Safety Pick award.






Audi A6
The A6 was close to making the cut last year, but it was hampered by a merely "Acceptable" performance in whiplash protection. With improvements to the Audi's seats, the A6 and smaller A4 earned the Insurance Institute's Top Safety Pick award.






Ford Edge
The Edge, a car-based crossover, is targeted at young, urban couples or small families looking for something more versatile than a car but more stylish than the typical SUV.








Ford Taurus
The Ford Five Hundred had been a Top Safety Pick before the Insurance Institute added a requirement that vehicles must be available with electronic stability control to get the awards.
Slightly redesigned for 2008 and renamed the Taurus, this car is now available with stability control so it has been returned to the list.

Ford Taurus X
The Taurus X, formerly known as the Freestyle, is an SUV-like wagon that shares most of its engineering wth the Ford Taurus sedan. The Taurus X has three rows of seats.








Honda CR-V
The CR-V shares some of its basic engineering with the Honda Civic. That car was dropped from the Insurance Institute's Top Picks list, however, because of a new requirement that all vehicles on the list must offer electronic stability control.






Honda Pilot
The mid-sized Honda Pilot has been one of the most popular crossover SUVs around since its introduction in 2002. Like all Honda SUVs, it comes standard with electronic stability control.







Hyundai Entourage
The Entourage is Hyundai's new minivan. The Kia Sedona is essentially the same vehicle with relatively minor differences. The Sedona has a smooth and quiet ride, comfortable interior and solid build quality, according to Edmunds.com.







Hyundai Santa Fe
The Santa Fe was completely redesigned for the 2007model year. Like all Hyunda vehicles it has electronic stability control as standard equipment.








Kia Sedona
The Sedona is Kia's new minivan. The Hyundai Entourage is essentially the same vehicle with relatively minor differences. The Sedona has a smooth and quiet ride, comfortable interior and solid build quality, according to Edmunds.com.







Lincoln MKX
The MKX is Lincoln's luxury version of the Ford Edge. In addition to a different look, the MKX's ride and handling are slightly different from the Edge's as well.

Saab 9-3
The 9-3 offers excellent handling and performance for a front-wheel drive car. Evidently, it offers class-leading safety, as well.

Saab 9-3 convertible
The 9-3 was one of two convertibles, both made by Swedish car companies owned by one of the major Detroit automakers, to earn a Best Pick. Saab is part of General Motors.
To earn a "Top Safety Pick" designation, a vehicle must get top scores in all impact tests and it must be available with electronic stability control.

The 9-3 has automatic rollbars that deploy in the event of a rollover.

Mercedes-Benz M-class
With its car-like engineering, the M-class is, technically speaking, a crossover vehicle. It handles well and, according to the Insurance Institute's tests, offers excellent protection in the event of a wreck.







Mercury Sable
The Mercury Montego had been a Top Safety Pick before the Insurance Institute added a requirement that vehicles must be available with electronic stability control to get the awards.
Slightly redesigned for 2008 and renamed the Sable, this car is now available with stability control so it has been returned to the list

Subaru B9 Tribeca
Its peculiar design may not suit your tastes, but the Tribeca does perform very well in crash tests. Electronic stability control comes as standard equipment.

Subaru Forester
To make the Top Picks list for 2007, the Insurance Institute required vehicles to have electronic stability control available as, at least, an option. The Subaru Forester and Legacy are the only vehicles on the list that do not have it as standard equipment. For the Forester, stability control is available only on the Sports 2.5 XT version.





Subaru Legacy
The Legacy is Subaru's midsized answer to the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Aside from its strong performance in the Insurance Institute's very demanding crash tests, the Legacy also offers all-wheel-drive. That's something you won't find in any Camry.






Volvo XC90
Volvo's reputation has been built on safety, so Volvo's absence from last year's Insurance Institute Top Safety Pick list was surprising to many consumers. The fact is, however, that many companies now make very safe cars, not just Volvo. Ford's Swedish luxury brand makes the cut this year with its XC90 SUV.





Volvo C70
The C70 is a hard-top convertible made by Ford-owned Volvo of Sweden.
A hard convertible top, like the one on the C70, cannot support weight and does not offer any safety benefit as compared to a cloth top. The C70 has automatic rollbars that deploy in the event of rollover.
(C)CNN

In Rear-End Crash Test, Most Trucks & SUVs Fail to Stop Neck Injury

Most trucks & SUVs do poorly in whiplash test. 54 current models - or two-thirds of all the vehicles in the test - fail to adequately protect occupants in rear-end collisions.

Two-thirds of pickups, vans and sport-utility vehicles don't provide acceptable protection against whiplash in rear-end collisions, according to tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Some 54 models were rated "marginal" or "poor" by the Institute in tests that involved measurements of seats and head restraints and, in some cases, simulated rear-end collisions.

Vehicle seats and head restraints are first measured to determine if the headrest, because of its shape and angle, is likely to provide adequate protection.

Seats that are deemed likely to provide good protection are then tested in a simulated crash. The seat is attached to a moving platform that is struck from behind at 20 miles per hour. The Institute then measures impact forces on a crash test dummy riding in the seat.

Twenty-one current models - or 24 percent of those tested - earned the best possible rating of "Good." Twelve models earned an "Acceptable" rating, the second-best rating.

"In stop-and-go commuter traffic, you're more likely to get in a rear-end collision than any other crash type," says IIHS's David Zuby. "It's not a major feat of engineering to design seats and head restraints that afford good protection in these common crashes."

The agency stresses that to reduce neck injuries, the vehicle's head restraint should be high enough to be at the back of the head.

Rear-end collisions are frequent, and neck injuries account for 2 million insurance claims each year, costing at least $8.5 billion.

For SUVs, the best performers were models by Subaru, Volvo, Acura, Ford, Honda and Hyundai.

Some manufacturers objected to the fact that the seats are not tested while mounted in the vehicle.

"We are confident our whiplash injury lessening system and vehicle design will provide a reasonable level of safety for our customers in the real world," Toyota said in a statement.

While Toyota's Tundra pickup earned the top "Good" rating for whiplash protection in the IIHS tests the Toyota Sienna minivan and Toyota Highlander, when equipped with a tilting headrest and adjustable lumbar support, and 4Runner SUVs earned "Poor" ratings. The Toyota Rav4 and FJ Cruiser SUVs and Tacoma pickup all earned a rating of "Marginal."

Overall, SUVs have the most vehicles with "Good" protection - 29 percent - while vans followed with 27 percent and only 6 percent of pickups earned a "Good" rating.

"The reason may be that automakers have updated or introduced many new SUVs since 2006, but minivans and pickups are being updated more slowly," said Zuby.
(C)CNN

Top 21 Safest Cars of the Year

Forbes did some digging through the Consumer Reports, Department of Transportation, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), and created their list of the top 20 safest cars of 2007.

To earn a spot on this list, a vehicle had to have at least two of the following:

• CR's highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.


• Perfect NHTSA crash-test scores across the board.


• Perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board.


• A substantially better-than-average (i.e. lower-than-average) frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.

Top 21 Safest Cars of 2007:

Acura RDX SUV
Base price: $32,995
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--Perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board.







Acura RL
Base price: $45,780
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--Perfect NHTSA crash-test scores across the board.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.





Audi A4
Base price: $28,240
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--Perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.





Audi A6
Base price: $41,950
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--Perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board.








BMW Z4 Coupe / Convertible
Base price: $36,400
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Chevrolet Corvette
Base price: $44,995
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Ford Freestyle
Base price: $26,670
--Perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.







Honda Civic
Base price: $14,810
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--Perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board.







Jaguar XJ
Base price: $64,250
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Lexus SC
Base price: $65,455
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Lincoln Town Car
Base price: $43,045
--Perfect NHTSA crash-test scores across the board.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.







Mazda MX-5 Miata
Base price: $21,180
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Mercedes-Benz SL-Class
Base price: $95,575
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Mercury Grand Marquis
Base price: $25,735
--Perfect NHTSA crash-test scores across the board.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.







Porsche 911
Base price: $72,400
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Porsche Boxter
Base price: $45,600
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Saab 9-3
Base price: $26,995
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--Perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.





Saab 9-5
Base price: $35,440
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Subaru Forester SUV
Base price: $21,195
--Perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.







Volkswagen Passat
Base price: $23,180
--Consumer Reports' highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.






Volvo XC90
Base price: $36,135
--Perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board.
--A substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI.
(C) Forbes

Toyota Profit Robust, Forecast Cautious

Toyota reported another year of record profit today but signaled a slowdown in the current year because of weakness in North America and increased spending.

While American rivals like General Motors and Ford have reported losses of billions of dollars in recent years, Toyota announced its seventh consecutive year of record earnings, bolstered by the popularity of its fuel-efficient vehicles. Toyota said net profit jumped about 20 percent in the fiscal year ended in March, to 1.64 trillion yen, or about $13.68 billion.

The results showed Toyota to be in robust shape as it prepares to end G.M.’s 76-year reign as the world’s largest automaker this year. Toyota reiterated its forecast of 9.34 million vehicle sales this calendar year for its entire group, which includes the mini-car maker Daihatsu Motor and truckmaker Hino. In terms of annual sales, that would be enough to put it ahead of G.M., which expects to sell 9.2 million vehicles this year.

Yet, despite last year’s strong showing, Toyota struck a cautious note in its forecast for the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2008. The company said it expects a modest 0.4 percent rise in net profit, to 1.65 trillion yen, or about $13.76 billion.

The company attributed the forecast to what it called a “severe market” in slumping North America, where Toyota earns about 60 percent of its profits. Toyota said it expects sales growth this year in North America to slow to 1.6 percent, down from 15.1 percent last year. Toyota also cited increased spending to build factories and develop new vehicles and technologies, like its popular gas-electric hybrids and more futuristic hydrogen-powered fuel-cell engines.

The slowdown in profit growth “is temporary, as we are planting the seeds” of future growth, Toyota’s president, Katsuaki Watanabe, told reporters. “Earnings will improve again.”

But some analysts called the forecast overly conservative. They said that while they expect profit growth to slow this year, Toyota may be giving a low estimate in order to reduce potential political fallout from its strong performance, particularly in the United States.

Analysts pointed out that Toyota is still forecasting strong gains this year in number of vehicles sold, up more than a half million vehicles from 2006, which they said should also lead to higher profits. Moreover, analysts noted that Toyota has made overly conservative profit forecasts before. A year ago, Toyota had said it expected profits to drop in the recently ended fiscal year — the same period for which it announced such robust earnings growth today.

Analysts estimated that net profit in the current fiscal year will most likely be closer to 1.74 trillion yen, or about $14.51 billion.

“Toyota doesn’t see any upside in showing how strong it really is,” said Atsushi Kawai, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities in Tokyo. “It wants to avoid inviting jealousy and other negative reactions.”

These concerns have been particularly acute in the United States, where control of Congress has recently shifted to traditionally labor-friendly Democrats. Many in Japan have worried that this could lead to fresh protectionist measures to control America’s ballooning trade deficit.

Because of its size and growth, Toyota has felt particularly vulnerable to any possible trade retaliation. Like many Asian carmakers, Toyota has hired Washington lobbyists and invested billions in new plants in the United States in hopes of avoiding the sort of criticism it faced during the early 1990s Japanese-American trade friction.

Toyota is scheduled to open its eighth North American factory in Mississippi in 2010.
Mr. Watanabe, Toyota’s president, also tried to play down Toyota’s prospects of beating G.M.
“Rather than think about other companies, I feel we must do our best to satisfy our worldwide customers,” he said. “There is still plenty for us to do.”

Still, the results clearly painted a picture that has become all too familiar in the auto industry: Toyota roaring ahead as the Detroit automakers stumble.

In addition to its strong annual earnings, Toyota posted an 8.9 percent gain in net profit in the January-March quarter, to 440.1 billion yen, or about $3.67 billion, as strong sales in the United States and Europe offset declines in Asia.

By contrast, G.M. has already reported losses of $2 billion last year, following a $10.4 billion loss the year before. Ford reported losses of $12.7 billion last year and is not expected to turn a profit in North America before 2009. Chrysler, the unit of DaimlerChrysler, said that its loss was $1.5 billion last year.

Toyota also gained on G.M. by another measure: size of annual revenue. Toyota said revenue last year rose 13.8 percent, to 23.95 trillion yen, or about $199.77 billion, just slightly behind G.M.’s revenue last year of $207 billion. In the current fiscal year, Toyota forecast a 4.4 percent rise in revenue, to 25 trillion yen, or about $208.52 billion.

In North America, Toyota benefited from strong sales of its Lexus luxury line, RAV4 light sports utility vehicle and Camry sedan, the best-selling car in the United States for a fifth consecutive year. Toyota said vehicles sales in North America rose by 386,000 vehicles from the year before, to 2.9 million vehicles.

To keep up with demand, Toyota has added Camry production at the Indiana plant of its affiliate, Fuji Heavy Industries, maker of Subaru. Toyota said it also plans to produce Camrys in Russia for sale there and elsewhere in Europe.

Toyota said it expects sales to pick up this year in Asia outside China and Japan, where they dropped by 91,000 vehicles last year to 789,000. The automaker also said it will increase spending this year to develop new cars and technologies by 5.5 percent to 940 billion yen, or about $7.84 billion.
By MARTIN FACKLER