This may come as no surprise, but the 2013 Volvo XC60 is very safe. The automaker that has built their reputation on safety announced today that their XC60 became the first SUV to be named a Top Safety Pick+, the highest possible honor given by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
To be named a Top Safety Pick+, vehicles must received a rating of Good in four out of five crash tests, and no lower than an Acceptable in the new small overlap frontal test.
That proved to be no problem for the 2013 Volvo XC60, which earned a Good rating in every test. With the addition of the new overlap test and the Top Safety Pick+ rating system, executives immediately made the 2013 XC60 available for testing with hopes of earning the designation. They did not go home disappointed.
Other cars were also named an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ today, such as the Honda Civic, Lincoln MKZ and Mazda6. The 2014 Subaru Forester crossover was also named a Top Safety Pick+ earlier in the week. The IIHS has not released which cars, or how many, were tested in total – so it's not clear whether the Volvo XC60 is the safest vehicle in its class, or just the first to be tested.
Still, the honor is a big win for Volvo. The small overlap test was introduced by the IIHS only last year, so 2013 model vehicles were not designed specifically to handle it. The fact that the Volvo XC60 received the highest possible rating, coupled with the same rating for the S60 sedan last year, shows that the Swedes are once again on top of their safety game.
