Skip to content

American Insurance NW Inc. Blog

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Insurance

Electric Cars Earn 1st Top Safety Ratings

The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf earn the highest safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the first-ever U.S. crash test evaluations of plug-in electric cars. The milestone demonstrates that automakers are using the same safety engineering in new electric cars as they do in gasoline-powered vehicles.

The dual-power Volt and all-electric Leaf not only surpass benchmarks for protecting occupants in crashes but also exceed current fuel efficiency and emissions standards. Both models are brand new for 2011. 

"What powers the wheels is different, but the level of safety for the Volt and Leaf is as high as any of our other top crash test performers," says Joe Nolan, the Institute's chief administrative officer. "Eco-minded drivers keen on switching to electric would do well to buy a Leaf or Volt for highway driving instead of a low-speed vehicle if they're at all concerned about being protected in a crash. The Leaf and Volt's extra mass gives them a safety advantage over other small cars," Nolan says. "These electric models are a win-win for fuel economy and safety."

See video of crash test and read more

Source: Insurance Institute For Highway Safety – News Release, Apr 26, 2011

 


Discussion

There are no comments yet.


Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked with

Comment

Your name, comment, and URL will appear on this page after it has been reviewed and approved. Your email address will not be published.