Must be Acura's shield on the grill that keeps the passenger so safe

 

One other important thing to note...Acura's status as a Tier 2 or 3 luxury brand plays to their advantage here because they have no flagship, nothing bigger than the MDX, and no sports car. Both IIHS and NHTSA set a price ceiling on the vehicles they test and lucky for Acura, none of their lineup crests that number.

Because of this, we will never see BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, or Audi with "Entire Lineup of 5 star safety rated" ads because they all produce some cars that are too expensive to be tested by IIHS or NHTSA.

 

the IS isn't rated 5-star.

 

Do you consider your Lexus GS a drivers car?

 

What exactly was Acura's first historic safety achievement? As others have mentioned, there are many great performers.

 

The Legacy may be slightly more resistant to rollovers than the Outback because of its lower center-of-gravity. But, having an Outback myself, I know that it still handles better than (almost) any true SUV I have driven.

 

Wait, hold on.
So what they were saying is some acura wasn't safe before? Double-edged sword achievement here???

 

except nobody else performs as well yet.

 

yeah, except the 5-series has horrible safety ratings and the 3-series isn't 5-star rated.

 

Acura's high standing in the safety department is not surprising, considering their excellent overall build quality...the RL, IMO, is particularly impressive in the quality of its materials. But, from a purely safety-engineering point of view, I have to agree with Faymester.......it is hard to beat Volvo and Mercedes. In a high-speed impact, I think I would rather be in a big Mercedes S-Class than just about any oteher production car I can think of.

Take the Mercedes S that Princess Diana and her boyfriend were killed in, for example. Her bodyguard (and, I believe, the driver) survived, even with the 100-MPH crash into a solid tunnel wall....because they were belted in. If she and her boyfriend had been properly belted (they weren't) they probably would have survived, too.

 

What performance are you talking about.

 

NHTSA (safercar.gov) 5-star ratings in front and side impact crash tests

IIHS (IIHS.org) overall good score in front and side impact test, and good score in head restraint design.

 

Yeah Volvo and Mercedes is head of safety ratings, Honda has done poorly in the past, so I am actually proud for Acura. My sister got into a crash in a Volvo, she was belted in but she sustained injuries for a really long time ...

 

actually the previous C-class and and E-class were by no means leading in crash test scores. The R-class still isn't leading in any crash tests.

neither is Volvo, but perception and reality always don't match.

Mercedes (EuroNCAP)
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/mercedes_benz.aspx
Volvo (EuroNCAP)
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/volvo.aspx

 

And that's exactly what that Acura exec was getting at when he said consumers who think "safety" should think "Acura". Here is solid, objective, unbiased proof that they have built safety into their designs across the entire line-up.

Remember folks: aesthetics are both subjective and easy to change (e.g. Acura could "refresh" the entire lineup quickly removing the hideous grilles). But if the underlying engineering and build quality aren't there (take a look at Range Rover reliability ratings or even Lexus' slight slips in initial quality) that's a much more significant thing to overcome.