On Wednesday, The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released its 2019 list of Top Safety Picks and Top Safety Picks+, it's two highest ratings for vehicle safety.
"Challenge Accepted" is the title of their report; IIHS increases the rigors required for vehicles to earn the top ratings. They keep the goalposts moving to compel manufacturers to better protect occupants each year. IIHS hopes that the 57 models that qualified for this initial list will be joined by more models as 2019 moves forward.
Years ago, Griff Jones worked with the IIHS to create the classic, Understanding Car Crashes: It's Basic Physics. It's an excellent capstone for instruction in mechanics. As mentioned in a previous post, I developed a fairly robust single-period lesson around vehicle safety and Jones' video.
YouTube Physics—Understanding Car Crashes: It's Basic Physics @ TPT
It brings the physics home to the students and gets them talking about vehicles they ride in or might aspire to own. I hope the lesson plants a seed that will get them to make vehicle safety and crashworthiness a primary factor when they consider a vehicle purchase.
As a native of Michigan, I was disappointed to see only one American model listed as a Top Safety Pick. Japanese, South Korean, and German makes and models proliferate these lists. I hope US nameplates step up their game, but their track record does not nourish my hope.
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