Acura RL Tops List of 2007’s Safest Cars
The luxury sedan Acura RL ranks first in the list of 21 safest cars of 2007, according to the data culled by Forbes.com.
The Acura RL is among the three car models that got the highest ratings for safety from the Consumer Reports, the Department of Transportation, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), and the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI).
The Acura car got Consumer Report’s thumbs-up for crash-avoidance capabilities. Apart from that, the Acura RL got perfect scores in crash test conducted by the IIHS and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is the government agency responsible for reducing vehicular accidents. The RL also has a considerably lower-than-average rate of insurance injury-claim filings, according to the HLDI. The RL is priced at the minimum $45,780.
The 2008 Acura RL is an all-wheel drive with a 3.5-liter, V6 engine that generates 290 horsepower. Among the features of Acura’s flagship sedan are the navigation system, active headlamps, and real wood trim. These are available as an optional package called the Technology Package.
To land a spot in the Forbes.com list, a vehicle must satisfy at least two of the following criteria: Consumer Report’s highest-possible rating for accident-avoidance capabilities; perfect NHTSA crash-test scores across the board; perfect IIHS crash-test scores across the board, and a substantially better-than-average frequency of insurance injury-claim filings from the HLDI.
Consumer Reports is a publication of the Consumer Union, an organization that advocates consumer rights. The IIHS is a nonprofit and educational organization seeking to lessen fatalities caused by vehicular crashes. An affiliate organization of the IIHS, the Highway Loss Data Institute make studies on the ways in which insurance losses differ among different kinds of cars.
On the other hand, the Acura RDX is also picked as one of the 13 safest cars by the IIHS for 2007. The key safety feature of the Acura RDX is the electronic stability control (ESC). The ESC, which is a standard on the RDX model, keeps the Acura car from flipping over or going out of control during sudden maneuvers.