Ford Motor Co. offers the most vehicles in America with top safety ratings, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The institute today released its "Top Safety Pick" awards list for 2009, which recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side and rear crashes, based on the institute's tests.

Ford had more winners than any other automaker -- 16 in all. Honda Motor Co. was second, with 13 winners. General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. tied with eight each.

In all, 72 vehicles made the list, double the number of winners a year ago.

Chrysler LLC, based in Auburn Hills, was the only major automaker that did not receive a single top safety pick. The institute said Chrysler could have picked up five awards "if the head restraints were better in the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring, the Sebring convertible, and the Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country."  read more »

Ford Motor Co . got another shot in the arm from Tuesday when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reported the automaker had more vehicles than any other manufacturer on itss list of safest vehicles sold today. The IIHS reported that Ford had 16 of the top-rated vehicles, followed by Honda with 13. General Motors and Toyota each had eight vehicles on the list. Seventy-two cars, trucks and SUVs received the top safety pick designation for 2009, more than double the number of vehicles in the 2008 model year and three times the number in 2007. The jump is due primarily to automakers increasing anti-rollover technology in more vehicles. The top-rated vehicles are the best in protecting people in front, side and rear crash tests based on institute evaluations during the year. The vehicles are required to have electronic stability control, or ESC, to qualify for the award. IIHS said electronic stability control is now standard on virtually all new SUVs and three-quarters of passenger cars for the 2009 model year. ESC is also standard on more than one-third of 2009 pickups. Fords list of top-rated vehicles included Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan midsize cars with optional ESC; the Ford F-150 pickup, Ford Edge and Ford Flex midsize sport utility vehicles; and the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner small SUVs. The list also included the Mazda Tribute, which has the same underpinnings as the Escape and Mariner. Fords Volvo vehicles also made the list. Honda and its Acura unit had vehicles in nearly every category, including top-sellers such as the Honda Accord; the Honda Civic 4-door with optional ESC; and the Acura MDX and RDX midsize SUVs; and the Honda Fit with optional ESC. The Fit is the first mini-car to earn the safety award. General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. both had eight vehicles on the list. GM's included the Cadillac CTS and the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook large SUVs. Toyota's top performers were the Toyota Corolla with optional ESC, Toyota RAV4, Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra and Scion xB. Electronic stability control senses when a driver may lose control and automatically applies brakes to individual wheels to keep the vehicle stable and avoid a rollover. It helps motorists avoid skidding across icy or slick roads or keep control when swerving to avoid an unexpected object in the road. The absence of the technology became a focal point of lawsuits filed against Ford in the 1990s and early 2000s when tires were blowing on Ford Explorers, often causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle before a crash. IIHS said Chrysler LLC was the only major automaker that did not receive a single award. They said Chrysler could have picked up five awards if the head restraints had been improved in the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring, the Sebring convertible and the Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town and Country. The report comes at an opportune time for Ford, which, along with GM and Chrysler, is asking Congress for bailout loans . Many members of Congress, as well as pundits and critics, have been lambasting Detroit automakers for the last several weeks for failing to stay competitive with Asian automakers.  read more »

Fords reliability ratings jumped significantly, making it by far the most reliable American automaker, according to Consumer Reports, which released its ratings today. Those ratings can be found in the magazines December issue. With the exception of a few of its trucks, Consumer Reports says Fords reliability is equal to that of the best Japanese automakers. Besides Fords success, the highest ratings went to traditional winners, including Honda, Toyota and Nissan. Last year, Toyota received below-average ratings for the V-6 Camry and Tundra, but now all 42 Toyota, Scion and Lexus models had average or above-average ratings. After many years of trouble, Nissans Titan and Armada and Infinitis QX56 improved their ratings, which jumped up to average this year.  read more »

A survey of more than 11,000 car owners and likely voters by Kelley Blue Book shows that Senator John McCain does better than Senator Barack Obama among owners of domestic brands and full-size SUVs, while Senator Obama does better with owners of import brands, hybrids and hatchbacks. Though this doesn't come as a shock to anyone with a brain, it does seem to explain why McCain is getting hosed in the polls lately. His base is shrinking.  read more »

Like a proud father -- which, in a sense, is exactly what he is -- Abdullah Bazzi, manager of hybrid engineering for Chrysler, is showing off the 2009 Dodge Durango Hybrid.

For the past couple of years, Bazzi has lived and breathed Chrysler gasoline-electric hybrids, finally breaking cover as the Durango and its corporate twin, the Chrysler Aspen. They will soon be followed by a hybrid version of the redesigned 2009 Ram full-sized pickup.

At a news media event here, Bazzi poked, prodded and pointed at a Durango Hybrid, showing me the lithium-ion battery pack, concealed under the middle-row seat in the seven-passenger SUV.

He pointed out the electric air conditioner, the electric power steering pump, the electric fans that cool the radiator, and a big black box under the hood that, he said, contains the "brains."  read more »

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For the first time, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has tested side-impact protection on small pickup trucks and the results are not favorable. (Learn about how the IIHS crash tests cars.) The Toyota Tacoma was the only pickup to earn the highest rating of good in the side test for occupant protection. The Dodge Dakota, Mitsubishi Raider, Ford Ranger, Mazda B Series, and Nissan Frontier all rated marginal; the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon rated poor in the side test, which simulates a side impact from an SUV or pickup. The side-impact tests are important as its the second most common type of crash fatality. Side air bags are standard on more than 65 percent of new models and manufacturers are working to make them standard by the 2010 model year.  read more »

Volkswagen has topped a list that it probably didn't want to be on: The most polluting vehicles. The VW Touareg V10 TDI and its not-so-clean diesel engine got the worst ranking from the EPA for its heavy output of exhaust....Stephen Markley