LexFather

http://www.motorauthority.com/2009-v...ick-award.html



Advanced vehicle systems like stability control, ABS and traction control have become so common that we often gloss over them in a car's spec sheet, but they are important innovations for safety. Volkswagen's CC has taken that to heart, outfitting a core complement of technologies that have helped it secure the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award.

The basics - ESP, ABS, brake assist and traction control - are all accounted for on all 2009 Volkswagen CCs. The entire VW lineup for 2009 features ESP as standard, but bringing all of these systems together gives the CC the edge. Standard side airbags in 2009 models also helped to push the car over the top.

"The TOP SAFETY PICK award from the IIHS is a tremendous honor for our CC," said Mark Barnes, Chief Operating Officer, Volkswagen of America, Inc. "We are thrilled when organizations like the IIHS recognize the hard work of our engineers who are dedicated to the safety of our customers. This award further validates Volkswagen's Prevent and Preserve Safety System approach to vehicle safety."

To get the Top Safety Pick rating, a vehicle has to score tops in front, side and rear impact results. The CC fits into the IIHS's 'midsize, moderately priced cars' category for measurement purposes. No roof crush tests were performed on the car.

IS-SV

Could this cause a uptick in sales, just maybe............

whoster

I'm actually surprised at the ungainliness of the side profile.

I've seen a few of these suckers on the road and they look pretty good.

FKL

Doubtful, most every car in this segment is extremely safe. One area the CC does have a hands up is with the availability of rear side airbags. It also has the disk wipe feature like bmw and mb do.

TRDFantasy

Good stuff, even less reason to buy a TL, unless you're really concerned about dealer service.

The G Man

Its like buying a Toyota Avalon, for the price I would rather buy a Lexus. Similarly, for the price of a CC, I would buy an Audi.

wmb0000

+1. I like the looks of the audi way more.

IS-SV

I agree, minor differences in safety features don't explain the differences in sales volume, and the mentioned rating will probably have no significant impact on sales either.

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

[flame suit on] insert taurus pictures [/flame suit on]

Having never seen a CC at all before, I saw one making a right turn and thought it was the older '96ish taurus

sorry, crappy google images:



kudos for the safety pick

IS-SV

I saw another CC today on my way to work, it looks much better than a Tortoise.

But it's not nearly as good looking as the CLS, IMO.

mmarshall

I reviewed a new CC not long ago, and, in some ways, it is a nice car. But one thing puzzles me, though, about this article. VW obviously copied the Mercedes CLS coupe-sedan styling, with the low, humpback roofline and tiny windows. Those tiny windows make for rather poor visibility out, and poor visibility can contribute to accidents. Why the IIHS would give such a high award to a car with poor outward vision, even if it has a number of other safety items, seems to me a little strange.

Threxx

Has anybody ever done a side by side comparison of wet braking response/performance with and without that feature? My Audi A4 and BMW both had/have that feature and while it's kinda interesting to think about in theory, it's impossible for me to tell any appreciable difference between those cars and others I've driven with wet brakes. If there were a way to disable the feature in those cars maybe it'd become more apparent.

Simple logic might say "if it didn't make much of a difference, they wouldn't have it on the cars", but these are the Germans we're talking about... they are known to occasionally engineer certain features into their cars that do little more than make people say "neato" once or twice.

The G Man

On cars without that disk wipe feature, when wet, you can feel less braking power when you first apply the brakes, maybe half of second or so, and then it will grab like normal.

Threxx

I dunno... maybe I'm not observant enough but I've driven my 'disk wipe' cars back to back with cars that don't have that feature in the rain and tried to discern a difference.. I just couldn't. Like I was saying, it might be more obvious if I could drive the same car with the feature enabled and then disabled.

The G Man

I agree threxx, different car brakes differently, so there is use comparing a A4 to say a camry. Since they both have different pedal feel to it. If you would maybe compare a Lexus IS350 with a Audi A4 in the rain, you might notice the difference since they both have high performance brakes. What you need to do is not compare the cars to each other as far as braking but compare both car in dry braking and compare it to wet braking.