The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week gave the Chevy Volt a five-star safety rating under a new, more rigorous testing procedure that makes the top rating harder to attain than in previous years.
The news comes two days after the European New Car Assessment Program awarded the Nissan LEAF a five-star overall crash rating, making the vehicle the first plug-in to achieve Euro NCAP’s highest safety score. The car didn’t do as well on the pedestrian safety criteria though, managing a score of just 65 percent, likely due to questions over the possible dangers posed by the car’s potential to operate in near silence. The LEAF has yet to be tested by the NHTSA.
After releasing its results, Euro NCAP said it expects modern electric vehicles “to have a similar or even better safety level†than conventional cars.
Both the LEAF and the Volt have consistently performed well in safety tests, benefiting in part from the extra weight of their battery packsâ€"which provides an advantage over similarly-sized non-electrics. In the LEAF, the weight from that battery pack is distributed to give the car an extremely low center of gravity, another key safety factor.
Both cars also offer standard electronic stability control systems, which according to the IIHS would eliminate 10,000 accident-related fatalities each year if standard on all vehicles.
In April, the LEAF and Volt were both awarded the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s highest rating, having performed well in all four of the most common injury accident scenarios tested by the group. “The way an electric or hybrid model earns top crash test ratings is the same way any other car does,†said IIHS’s Joe Nolan at the time. “Its structure must manage crash damage so the occupant compartment stays intact and the safety belts and airbags keep people from hitting hard surfaces in and out of the vehicle.â€
Still, there seems to be a lingering popular misconception that plug-in cars are somehow less safe than ICEs, perhaps due to their typically smaller size or an association with low-speed NEVs, which aren’t required to pass highway crash testing. With the release of the LEAF and Volt though, that myth will hopefully soon be put to rest.
Tags: Chevy, Leaf, marks, Nissan, Pile, PluginCars.com, safety, Volt â€"
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