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The well-known Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the
USA has awarded the sporty, compact
Audi A3 its highest rating of “Top Safety Pick”. This makes Audi the only German
manufacturer to have three award winning models in its ranks as the Audi A4 and
A6 have previously been honoured with this top safety rating.
The IIHS, on behalf of the US insurance industry, regularly
carries out crash tests on passenger vehicles of all kinds to establish their
safety standard. Experts and car buyers alike, both within and outside the
USA , pay close attention to the
results. The latest outstanding result for the Audi A3 is the outcome of a
frontal, rear and side crash test which the A3, like the A4 and A6 before it,
completed in the USA .
The side impact test is a particularly challenging part of the IIHS crash
test series. In this test, vehicles are struck from the side by a moving barrier
at a speed of 50 km/h. The barrier is shaped to resemble the front end of an
SUV. Structural deformation as well as the kinematics and stresses to which
passengers are subjected are then evaluated.
The IIHS also evaluates the risk of neck injuries in a rear impact. Audi
models score top marks in this discipline as a result of the optimised design of
the seat structure, seat components and the geometry and position of the head
restraints. The existence of an electronic stabilisation program (ESP) as
standard has a positive effect on the rating and this feature is standard for
all Audi vehicles.
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