The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently at work putting 54 new cars through the grind of their intensive crash testing exercises. The highest score possible is five stars and that is what most new cars set their sights on, yet that is difficult due to the stringent requirements. Four stars is still considered respectable if not the best and that is what both the 2013 Ford Escape and 2013 Mazda CX-5 crossovers.
It is great to hear some good news in regard to the 2013 Ford Escape, it has been recalled three times for separate issues including a fire engine risk that had Ford telling owners not to drive at all and had their dealers go pick up the vehicles to repair them. Hopefully recalls are behind them now for the most part though and the four star rating will help redeem the reputation a bit. Even more so is the fact that the Escape did get a five star rating for its side impact. The frontal crash and rollover protection both received four stars. The 2013 Mazda CX-5 crossover’s score were the same. This is the first year that the Escape and CX-5 received four stars, their previous models only had three stars. The 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport also has a four star rating, as it had as well on its previous model.
There are a few five star winning vehicles so far in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s crash tests out of the compact segment. The Hyundai Elantra GT and the BMW 3 Series hybrid both have a five star rating. The Elantra GT’s five star rating is in the side impact testing, it received four stars for frontal and rollover crashes. The 3 Series five star rating is in side impact and rollover crashes, but not frontal crashes.
Source Cars.com