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IIHS Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards get tougher: Here are the latest winners

Automakers love to trumpet the accolades from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, but the agency keeps making its best grades harder to achieve. For 2020, it is raising the bar again, requiring a better score in the passenger-side small-overlap crash test, wider availability of top-performing headlights, and automatic emergency braking systems that effectively avoid collisions with pedestrians, in addition to its previous benchmarks. Why the 2020 criteria is harder: To be named either a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+, the required performance in the passenger-side small-overlap crash test has been raised from Acceptable to Good, meaning that the model must achieve Good ratings in all crash tests. The Nissan Rogue, for example, scored an Acceptable in the passenger-side small overlap crash, and so it loses its Top Safety Pick rating for 2020. To achieve either of the top ratings, a vehicle's automatic emergency braking system must effectively avoid hitting pedestrians as well as other vehicles. (The automatic emergency braking system can be optional, but then the award applies to the model only when so equipped.) Any vehicle whose automatic emergency braking system does not include pedestrian detection would lose its TSP or TSP+ rating for 2020, the Ram 1500 being one example. To be named a Top Safety Pick+, the model can have no variant with headlights that achieve less than an Acceptable rating (most new cars have different headlights — often LEDs — that are exclusive to upper trim levels).

Hyundai, Mazda and Ford offering support to victims of Colorado flooding

Hyundai, Mazda and Ford have initiated programs to aid victims of the recent floods across Colorado. Hyundai is stepping in to give help directly to drivers, offering those with flood-damaged vehicles a $750 credit on a new Hyundai. "At this stressful time, the last thing flood victims should be concerned with is how they are going to replace their water-damaged or destroyed vehicles," Dave Zuchowski, executive vice president of Hyundai's American sales, said.
The Hyundai program will run from September 18 through the end of October, and will cover all citizens in counties declared disaster areas by FEMA. Residents will need to provide proof of residency and a letter from their insurance company describing the damage to their vehicle.
Mazda, on Friday, announced that it'd be donating $25,000 to the American Red Cross and a further $15,000 to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, in the name of disaster relief. Mazda's President and CEO, Jim O'Sullivan, said, "The flooding across the states of Colorado, Texas and New Mexico has been absolutely devastating for not only the people living there but their four-legged loved ones as well. Mazda hopes that those in need can get the help they deserve through such great organizations as American Red Cross and Humane Society of Boulder Valley."

Mazda CX-50, GMC Hummer EV and Porsche Macan T | Autoblog Podcast #724

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor James Riswick and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. It's a big week for interesting car reviews, as we discuss driving the Mazda CX-50, GMC Hummer EV, Porsche Macan T and Toyota GR86 (formerly known as GR 86, with a space). They also discuss the newly unveiled 2023 Toyota GR Corolla and 2023 Honda HR-V, as well as Elon Musk becoming Twitter's biggest shareholder. Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com. Autoblog Podcast #724 Get The Podcast Apple Podcasts – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes Spotify – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast on Spotify RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2023 Mazda CX-50 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 2023 Porsche Macan T 2022 Toyota GR86 2023 Toyota GR Corolla revealed: Looks ferocious, packs 300 hp 2023 Honda HR-V revealed, is now Civic-based and bigger Elon Musk takes 9.2% stake in Twitter, is now biggest shareholder Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.