The good news is that all cars (even SUVs) are getting safer every year. Car companies actually study the results of the non-profit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s tests of their cars’ safety, as well as that of the "winners."

RAISING THE BAR

Correspondingly, the Institute “raises the bar” every year, making it tougher to earn their Top Safety Pick Award. 2007 was especially tough because the Institute believes wholeheartedly in ESC, Electronic Stability Control, and vehicles that don’t offer it don’t get the Award.

Vehicles that won in 2006 but lost in 2007 because they don’t offer ESC include: Ford 500, Mercury Montego, Chevy Malibu, and the four-door Honda Civic.

The Institute was also tougher in enforcing rear-collision safety, which many of the manufacturers haven’t quite mastered. Toyota and Lexus would have claimed nine more TSP’s and Honda would have won four more had their head-restraint designs been up to the Institute’s standards.

NO TO SUVs

Though SUVs have improved their chances against rollovers with ESC, many experts feel that consumers will actually be worse off because they will either drive less cautiously, expecting the ESC to protect them, or they will still buy SUVs without the ESC, thinking that they are safer cars, like their stability-equipped cousins.

Though seven of the 13 vehicles to earn the Institute’s Safety Award are SUVs, not all of them will be included in this article.

WINNERS

Having said that, it should be noted that the mileage efficiency on these Top Safety Pick SUVs is equivalent to the minivans, and better than many four-door midsize cars. Remember: just because your car is safer doesn’t mean you can be any less safe as a driver.

• Small SUVs: Honda CR-V; Subaru Forester (with optional ESC)
• Medium SUVs: Honda Pilot; Acura RDX; Subaru B9 Tribeca
• Minivans: Kia Sedona; Hyundai Entourage
• Midsize: Audi A4; Saab 9-3; Subaru Legacy (with optional ESC)