Trollhättan, Sweden: The Saab 9-4X crossover and the Saab 9-5 Sedan have both earned a ‘Top Safety Pick’ for 2012, the highest rating for crashworthiness awarded by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the United States for a consecutive year.
“Saab Automobile prides itself on its ability to create vehicles which focus on the safety of the driver and its passengers in real-life situations,” said Per Lenhoff, Head of Safety Development at Saab Automobile. “It is rewarding to be recognized by IIHS for a Top Safety Pick award for two of our newest products.”
Saab’s Real-Life Safety philosophy is based on the fact that no collision is ever the same. Saab safety engineers continuously study how Saab cars behave in real collisions on public roads. The results of these studies are the basis for continued development of both design and safety solutions in cars as well as of Saab’s in-house crash testing methods.
IIHS (www.iihs.org) is a research and communications organization funded by auto insurers in the US. The test procedures include front impact (offset) and side impact crashes. Seat/head restraints are also tested in a simulated rear-end impact to assess the mitigation of whiplash injuries and the roof structure is tested to assess a vehicle rollover crash.
Performance is rated as ’Good’, ’Acceptable’, ’Marginal’ or ’Poor’ in each of the tests and to achieve a ’Top Safety Pick’ award, cars must achieve the highest rating in all four procedures and should also be fitted with ESP®.
Earlier this year, the Saab 9-4X and the Saab 9-5 both earned a Top Safety Pick for 2011.
Excellent news ! Now advertise the s*** out of this !
Sorrry have to write this in this thread
news fr sweden:The new administrator has dropped out today
Great!! Although not unexpected! 🙂
Here is the full list. This is good news of course, but all the main competitors are also on the list, as expected.
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/
(Now let’s get a new administrator that lasts longer than an afternoon, plus some money in the bank account.)
I thought this was announced some time ago?
this time is the 2012 safety pick. Some months ago we announced that the 9-5 and 9-4x earned the 2011 safety pick. 😉
Did anyone see the 2.0L turbo charged monster that Cadillac will drop on the upcoming ALS?!
270 hp, and monster torque available from 1500 rpm.
Meanwhile, Saab’s 2.0L engine makes a relatively puny 210 hp. What’s up with that?!?
Quijote the Saab 2.0L makes 220 hp and 350 Nm torque (albeit from 2500 rpm).
The Cadillac has a peak torque of 353 Nm at an unknown rpm, as Cadillac says that 90% (317 Nm) of peak is available from 1500rpm till 5800 rpm.
The Hirsch version makes 260hp and 400 Nm, which makes the 350 from Cadillac look less Monster-like 😉
And looking at the torque graph from Hirsch, I must say that you also get 310Nm between somewhere below 2000rpm (sorry the diagram starts at 2000 rpm) and 5800 rpm.
Indeed… but ultimately stock horsepower is off by 50 hp compared to the Caddy engine. Sure, you can “Hirsch” it, but as far as marketing is concerned Saab is fighting a huge uphill battle by having relatively weaker stock engines.
If GM is doing it, there should be no reason why Saab can’t achieve it either.
Quijote, stock/non-stock. I don’t know, but I get the impression that this “stock” engine is the one planed for the Opel Astra OPC, and the engines from OPC are not stock, nor are the M, R, S, SR or AMG tuned engines. 😉
The Saab engine can produce more but is “limited” due to transmission life…..apparently.
. . . and this news would matter if SAAB were actually producing vehicles to sell. 🙁
Saab on top here in its segment Rollover strength
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/roof/detailsbyclass.aspx?10
The safety department at Saab is (was) superb. However I do know that several key members have left so I hope they can continue the good work.
If anybody ever wonders what happened to the new 9-5 wagon chassis number 00001 ….. they crashed and destroyed it!
CNN.com is showing the Mercedes E-Class as the top vehicle (with a picture) in “Large Luxury Vehicles”. From the IIHS, clearly they are second to the Saab 9-5 (listed, but not pictured).
Here’s the link. Too bad, would’ve been good, free advertising.
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/autos/1112/gallery.iihs-top-safety-pick-cars/7.html