Honda Receives Seven IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK Awards for 2008 [11.15.7]

[T Mac]

11/15/2007 - TORRANCE, Calif. -

A total of seven Honda and Acura models, including the all-new 2008 Honda Accord, have earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) TOP SAFETY PICK award for 2008, the highest rating possible from the nonprofit research organization. The annual award recognizes vehicles that perform best in protecting passengers in the Institute's front, side and rear crash test evaluations, and includes only vehicles with electronic stability control (branded as Vehicle Stability Assist™ (VSA®) on Honda and Acura vehicles) plus head protection airbags..

TOP SAFETY PICK awards for the Honda Division include the 2008 Accord, CR-V, Element, Odyssey and Pilot. TOP SAFETY PICK awards for the Acura Division include the 2008 MDX and RDX. Honda and Acura have the industry's most TOP SAFETY PICK awards for vehicles where head protection airbags and electronic stability control are standard equipment.

The total 2008 model year sales volume of all Honda and Acura vehicles that achieve the TOP SAFETY PICK award is projected to account for approximately two-thirds of the company's sales volume and exceed 1 million vehicles - more than any other automaker, based on industry sales projections.

"Honda has consistently challenged itself to pursue vehicle safety as part of its core business strategy," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "American Honda will put more Top Safety Pick-rated vehicles on the road next year than any other automaker."

Honda seeks to provide a high level of occupant protection and pedestrian injury mitigation in all of its cars and trucks through a comprehensive and evolving approach to vehicle safety. This process, which honors the company's "Safety for Everyone" initiative introduced in 2003, benefits all new Honda and Acura vehicles - regardless of size or price - while also increasing compatibility with other types of vehicles in a frontal collision.

The 2008 Honda Accord, with a projected annual sales volume of approximately 400,000 vehicles - more than any other TOP SAFETY PICK vehicle -exemplifies the Honda approach to safety.

Every Accord incorporates newly-designed side-curtain airbags and dual-chamber, front-side airbags with a passenger-side Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS); and active front seat head restraints that are designed to help reduce the severity of neck injury in the event of a rear collision. An Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure in the front of the vehicle makes the new Accord highly effective at absorbing the energy of a frontal crash and helps minimize the potential for under-ride or over-ride situations that can occur during head-on or offset-frontal impacts with a significantly larger or smaller vehicle. Vehicle Stability Assist and an Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) with brake assist are standard equipment on every Accord.

Additional standard safety features include dual-stage, dual-threshold front airbags, front seatbelts with automatic-tensioning systems and load limiters, and a pedestrian injury mitigation design in the front of the vehicle. Driver and front passenger seatbelt reminders and daytime running lights are also standard equipment.

The 2008 Accord Sedan has received a five-star frontal crash safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for both the driver and the front passenger.

Honda operates two of the world's most sophisticated crash test laboratories for development of improved safety designs and technologies. The Tochigi, Japan, facility was the world's first indoor omni-directional car-to-car crash testing facility and has played a critical role in the development of enhanced designs for occupant and pedestrian safety, as well as vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility.

Honda R&D America's Raymond, Ohio, development center performs advanced testing on all U.S.-developed models. The facility features the world's first pitching test sled, which aids efficiency by enabling economical and speedy crash-test simulations with certain interior safety components, such as seats and seatbelts, prior to conducting a crash test with an actual vehicle. It also features one of the world's highest-resolution impact barriers, which enables precise measurement of the distribution of impact load forces on a vehicle, allowing for even more advanced vehicle designs.