Honda and Acura win safety awards for RDX, Pilot and CR-V

Honda and its luxury division Acura, received a total of three awards from the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for its sport utility vehicles.

Top Safety Picks went to the new 2007 Honda CR-V, and the 2007 Honda Pilot, while the new Acura RDX, pictured below, got the stamp of approval in the luxury SUV class.

The Honda CR-V and the Pilot were among seven SUVs to earn the IIHS Top Safety Pick awards for 2007.

The RDX was one of only three luxury SUVs (out of 13) to pass the IIHS’s safety grade.

This marked the first year that the institute gave safety awards to SUVs. The awards recognize vehicles which perform best in protecting passengers in front, side and rear crashes, based on their ratings in the Institute’s tests.

Honda’s safety initiatives on all trim levels of the 2007 CR-V and the Pilot include side curtain airbags with a rollover sensor as standard equipment. These airbags are in addition to the vehicles’ existing standard driver’s and front passenger’s airbags, front-side air bags with passenger-side Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS) and Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA). In addition, the CR-V utilizes Honda’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure.

The RDX, like other Acura models, has front side airbags with passenger-side OPDS, side curtain airbags for front and rear outboard seats and VSA  as standard equipment.   The RDX also utilizes ACE body structure which helps to disperse collision forces over a larger frontal area.