8 Toyota Models Among Insurance Institute's Safety Picks

2010-12-22

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has included eight Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles among its 66 winners of Top Safety Pick awards for 2011. Toyota, responding to the announcement, said it was "pleased to have received eight IIHS Top Safety Picks for 2011, which we believe is reflective of our ongoing commitment to developing safe and reliable vehicles for our customers." General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. also won eight awards each, while the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group and Germany's Volkswagen AG led with nine. Toyota's eight "safety picks" are the Toyota Avalon and Corolla sedans, the Highlander SUV, the Sienna minivan and Venza crossover; the Lexus RX SUV, and the Scion tC coupe and boxy xB. Its strong showing is a positive development for the automaker, which has recalled 7 million vehicles in the United States this year. The Institute's safety pick awards recognize vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, rollover and rear crashes based on IIHS test ratings. Winners also must offer electronic stability control, a crash avoidance feature. THE DETROIT NEWS