Safest Cars of 2016: Did Your Car Make the List?

The safety features in cars are always a selling point when consumers think about buying one. It's helpful to know, especially if you have a family, which models protect you better. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a US safety group, has complied a list of the safest cars on the market for 2016.

The Institute, an industry funded group helps encourage automakers to build safer cars by awarding ratings. This year, the top spot went to Toyota with nine models in the 48 Top Safety Pick Plus of 2016. The Toyota Camry, the best selling car in the US is in the list.

Honda placed second with eight winners. Volkswagen AG with seven, and Subaru with six. The only domestic car to get a spot in the list was Fiat Chrysler's Chrysler 200. 13 vehicles were able to receive Top Safety Pick, the second highest award. US News reported that out of the 13 vehicles, five were made by General Motors, including their Buick Encore.

The IIHS' criteria change from year to year, steadily increasing the difficulty of the tests. As IIHS President Adrian Lund told Reuters, "As vehicles continue to improve, however, we think it's important to recognize that progress and encourage further advances by making our ratings more stringent."

This year the top ranked carmakers had to have a frontal crash prevention system with automatic braking capabilities to prevent a rear end collision. Without any driver assistance the vehicle had to slow down or stop before hitting a target at either 12 or 25 miles per hour.

As another indication of the strenuousness of 2016's tests, more than 20 winners from 2015's Top Safety Pick award could not qualify this year due to the stricter offset crash tests. The test replicates what occurs when the front corner of a car hits a fixed object. It's the Institute's newest and most challenging test. Bloomberg added that 2015's models were off the list this year because the institute had shifted its minimum criteria from "acceptable", the second-highest rating, to "good", the highest.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed a new standard called the New Car Assessment Program that will require carmakers to have crash avoidance technologies as well as rating system that will assess the vehicles based on pedestrian safety, crash worthiness, and crash avoidance. The Program will also base the crash test ratings on the crash avoidance technology available in the car.