Taka

From http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr111507.html

2008 winners of Top Safety Pick award — number of winners increases; pickups eligible for first time

ARLINGTON, VA —Thirty-four vehicles earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award for 2008. The award recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, and rear crashes based on ratings in the Institute's tests. Winners also have to be equipped with electronic stability control (ESC), which research shows can significantly reduce the risk of crashing.

Compared with last year, automakers have more than doubled the number of vehicles that meet criteria for Top Safety Pick. At the beginning of the 2007 model year, 13 models qualified, but as manufacturers have made changes and introduced new and safer vehicle designs, 10 additional vehicles qualified during the year. Now another 11 vehicles are being added to the list for 2008. Designating winners based on the tests makes it easier for consumers to identify vehicles that afford the best overall protection without sifting through multiple sets of comparative crash test results.

"For 2008, consumers have the widest selection of vehicles they've ever had that afford the best protection in the most common kinds of crashes," says Institute president Adrian Lund. Front and side impacts are the most common kinds of fatal crashes, killing nearly 25,000 of the 31,000 vehicle occupants who died in 2005. Rear-end crashes usually aren't fatal, but they result in a large proportion of the injuries that occur in crashes. About 60 percent of insurance injury claims in 2002 reported minor neck sprains and strains.

All current car and minivan models, small and midsize SUVs, and small and large pickup trucks are eligible to win Top Safety Pick. Eight vehicles from Ford and its subsidiary, Volvo, make the list of winners for 2008. Seven winners are from Honda and its subsidiary, Acura.

Winners have features that help avoid crashes: The Institute added a crash prevention criterion last year to earn Top Safety Pick. Winning vehicles have to be equipped with ESC, which can help drivers avoid crashes altogether. ESC is a control system comprised of sensors and a microcomputer that continuously monitors how well a vehicle responds to a driver's steering input and selectively applies the vehicle brakes and modulates engine power to keep the vehicle traveling along the path indicated by the steering wheel position. This technology helps prevent sideways skidding and loss of control that can lead to rollovers. ESC can help drivers maintain control during emergency maneuvers when their vehicles otherwise might spin out.

"Vehicles should be designed to provide good occupant protection when crashes occur, but now with ESC we have the possibility of preventing many crashes altogether," Lund says. "If all vehicles were equipped with ESC, as many as 10,000 fatal crashes could be avoided each year." Institute research indicates that ESC reduces the risk of fatal single-vehicle crashes by 56 percent and fatal multiple-vehicle crashes by 32 percent. Many single-vehicle crashes involve rolling over, and ESC reduces the risk of fatal single-vehicle rollovers by 80 percent (SUVs) and 77 percent (cars).

For first time pickups are eligible: Pickup trucks haven't been eligible to win Top Safety Pick until now because the Institute hadn't begun side testing them. The Toyota Tundra is first to qualify. Pickups aren't as likely as cars or SUVs to have side airbags or ESC, and Toyota has made these features standard in the Tundra.

"Pickups are among the top selling vehicles in the United States," Lund points out. "They're also more likely than in the past to be used as family vehicles, so equipping them with the latest safety features is important."

Protection in rear impacts improves: Crash tests have driven major improvements in the designs of all kinds and sizes of passenger vehicles. The Institute began frontal crash tests for consumer information in 1995. Side tests were added in 2003 and rear tests in 2004. Most vehicles now earn good ratings in the frontal test, but significant differences still are apparent in vehicle performance in side and rear tests.

Some manufacturers have been working to improve the ratings of their vehicles in the rear test. For example, the seat/head restraints in the Honda Accord, Element, and Odyssey as well as the BMW X3 and X5 are rated good compared with previous designs that were rated marginal or poor. Audi improved the design of seat/head restraints in the A3 from acceptable to good. Another 23 vehicles would have won 2008 awards if they had good seat/head restraint designs. Toyota could have claimed 10 more awards, including 3 for Lexus models. Nissan and Volkswagen could have picked up 4 awards apiece.

Another area where safety is improving is occupant protection in side impacts. More 2008 model vehicles include as standard equipment side airbags designed to protect people's heads. The Saturn was side tested twice. In the first test, the side curtain airbag didn't deploy properly, and the head of the dummy positioned in the back seat was struck by the sill of the window in the door. This impact didn't produce high head injury measures, but head protection was inadequate. In response, General Motors redesigned the side curtain airbag to ensure more rapid inflation and better coverage of the airbag next to the dummy's head. In the second test, the fix was successful, and the VUE's side rating improved from acceptable to good. Top Safety Pick applies to VUEs built after December 2007.

Each year, the Institute offers to test Top Safety Pick candidates early in the model year. The policy is for manufacturers to reimburse the Institute for the cost of vehicles if the tests aren't part of the group's regular schedule. Top Safety Pick is presented by vehicle size because size and weight are closely related, and both influence how well occupants will be protected in serious crashes. Larger, heavier vehicles generally afford better protection in crashes than smaller, lighter ones.

How the vehicles are evaluated: The Institute's frontal crashworthiness evaluations are based on results of frontal offset crash tests at 40 mph. Each vehicle's overall evaluation is based on measurements of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury measures from a Hybrid III dummy in the driver seat, and analysis of slow-motion film to assess how well the restraint system controlled dummy movement during the test.

Each vehicle's overall side evaluation is based on performance in a crash test in which the side of the vehicle is struck by a barrier moving at 31 mph that represents the front end of a pickup or SUV. Ratings reflect injury measures recorded on two instrumented SID-IIs dummies, assessment of head protection countermeasures, and the vehicle's structural performance during the impact. Injury measures obtained from the two dummies, one in the driver seat and the other in the back seat behind the driver, are used to determine the likelihood that a driver and/or passenger in a real-world crash would have sustained serious injury. The movements and contacts of the dummies' heads during the crash also are evaluated. Structural performance is based on measurements indicating the amount of B-pillar intrusion into the occupant compartment.

Rear crash protection is rated according to a two-step procedure. Starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry — the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man. Seats with good or acceptable restraint geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures forces on the neck. This test simulates a collision in which a stationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph. Seats without good or acceptable geometry are rated poor overall because they can't be positioned to protect many people

11 NEW WINNERS FOR 2008

Midsize cars

Audi A3

Honda Accord

Small car

Subaru Impreza equipped with optional electronic stability control

Minivan

Honda Odyssey

Midsize SUVs

BMW X3

BMW X5

Hyundai Veracruz built after August 2007

Saturn VUE built after December 2007

Toyota Highlander

Small SUV

Honda Element

Large pickup

Toyota Tundra

ALL 34 WINNERS

Large cars

Audi A6

Ford Taurus with optional electronic stability control

Mercury Sable with optional electronic stability control

Volvo S80

Midsize cars

Audi A3, A4

Honda Accord

Saab 9-3

Subaru Legacy with optional electronic stability control

Midsize convertibles

Saab 9-3

Volvo C70

Small car

Subaru Impreza with optional electronic stability control

Minivans

Honda Odyssey

Hyundai Entourage

Kia Sedona

Midsize SUVs

Acura MDX, RDX

BMW X3, X5

Ford Edge, Taurus X

Honda Pilot

Hyundai Santa Fe

Hyundai Veracruz built after August 2007

Lincoln MKX

Mercedes M class

Saturn VUE built after December 2007

Subaru Tribeca

Toyota Highlander

Volvo XC90

Small SUVs

Honda CR-V, Element

Subaru Forester with optional electronic stability control

Large pickup

Toyota Tundra

ALSO RANS

Twenty-three vehicles earn good ratings in front and side crash tests. They have ESC, standard or optional. They would be 2008 Top Safety Pick winners if their seat/head restraints also earned good ratings:

* Acura RL, TL

* BMW 3 series

* Chrysler Sebring convertible

* Infiniti M35/M45

* Kia Amanti

* Lexus IS 250/350, ES 350, GS 350/460

* Nissan Pathfinder, Xterra both with optional side airbags

* Nissan Quest

* Toyota Avalon, Camry, FJ Cruiser, 4Runner, Prius, RAV4, and Sienna

* Volkswagen Eos, Jetta, Passat, Rabbit

congrats on the new kluger! :)

how much did it cost on the road?

Depends who you ask? ;). Mine price is higher than the others

Already got some small HID driving lights to go on and take my HID out of my Berlina for the head light up grade.

PC_XT, how is your HID?

I am shopping for my car!

I hope you picked it up on schedule and are enjoying a nice long drive and "maybe have a sleep out tonight in the back, Im sure the wife and kids wont mind" Besides you have to read the manual and part of reading the manual is to practically try what it says, it could take a while.

We want pics too....

I am reading the manual. Driven 35km around the city and concur everything that people say. It is not boat, fast .... comfy sofa.

Have not tried all the gadget in the Grande yet, but after 1 hour of ownership... all the extra are worth it. The sat nav is great and spot on, the phone Bluetooth is perfect, rear camera is an asset and the 8" screen reverse is huge!

PS Thanks for the quoting tip, Ill have to keep experimanting.

No worries

4 more hours and the white beast is in my hand!

The wait for a luxury white moving crouch is no longer!

I am picking the fast fat white beast up this afternoon!

Yes there is a sales stop on RAV4 V6 at the moment. Toyota suspect a problem with the ECU.

I think I just see one demo in the local dealership. Will they still offering test drives? How about at WA?

They must be specific to colour and Model I think ours is all one colour with no black on it, will know when the budget is available for the tow bar soon.

The painted diffuser is on KX-S and Grande only. It is body coloured so our should be white and it look great. It just lost it with the tow bar . I have asked to keep it so I can change it when I wish

PS I still dont know how to use all the forum quote thingos yet......

PM sent...

Oh also I meant this difference in tow bar... the tow bar is black and sticks out, and my 3 year old can sit on it!

Tow bar: Note the tow bar and its anchor is black (non painted) and sticks out

Non tow bar (note the colour of diffuser is body colour = Graphite)

Anyway, I'm getting of topic, so I think it time I go ...

No compare with people in other forum, you are the most in tune!

I realise this thing will never handle the way the SP23 does, nor do I expect it to, however, it definitely needs improvement.

The advertised mileage is rubbish. I only managed to achieve 11.6 ltr/100kms on a drive to the coast. Around town I'm averaging 12.9 (Not using the sport shift).

We actually upgraded my wife's SP23 automatic to this one. Let me tell you the SP23 does 10-11L/100km no matter how good you drive. And it is 9L/100km on the highway from Adelaide to Melbourne and back. I found the SP23 handles better but the Kluger is much more comfortable. B)

Sway bar is a good idea and I will look into the suspension side of things, since I do a lot of research work and tune it to what I like for my RX-8. I doubt it will have the alignment setting as flexible as the RX-8, but hey anything is better. Sometimes a slight lean is not a bad thing, since we have low grip tyres. I race my RX-8 and I know when the car is too low and it actually reduces my lap time. A balance is what we need.

I have also noticed some people comparing the Kluger Grande to the Lexus RX-350 on other forums. Let's make one thing clear. This is no Lexus and the two shouldn't be compared. This vehicle is almost $20K cheaper (fully optioned) than the RX-350 and in my opinion is much more suited to a young(er) family.

Let them compare! We can fit 7 people, quality is better and much cheaper. Drive.com.au said some features of Grande should make Lexus proud . Lexus RX is just a Toyota Harrier in Japan. So it is more like our brother than a rich cousin :D

During my lunch walk today, I discovered one thing about the tow bar.

You know that the rear diffuser bit of the car is body colour?

When you have the tow bar, the white bit of it gone and replaced by a thick bar covered with black plastic ... then the tow connector stick out with the electronic cable socket on the left. It is a good unit for the price it listed (I think it is $900 odd), but I am just concern its look in the white car I am sure some black bit is ok in the white car.

Also the icons on the Grande touch display that go dull so you cant press them are a safety feature so Toyota say......whilst the car is moving you cant Dial out on the display and do many other things ok how do we disconnect that boys??? Also reconfirmed NO MP3 Input aswell that really suxs for a $70K CAR

- It rolls and pitches around corners almost as much as the '98 Prado I had until just recently.

- NO AUXILLARY INPUT FOR MY IPOD!!!!

- Audio System is ordinary for a car in this price range

That is a recurrent theme that I hear ....

I found the system is better than my wife's current car and it is not much different from my 9 Speaker Bose in my RX-8. Hey, when you have a family of four and you are the only male in the family, you have no say to the music you listen! So the whole stacker is full of children song MP3 or Cantonese songs.

I have no need for iPod since 4 discs of MP3 is 600 songs???? surely you will finish the journey by then

I only concern that it does not handle as well. Lucky I still have my sports car with me

Is that rear window wiper really as small as it looks...I never payed that much attention to it before.

I don't even know it exists until you point that out <_<

Probably be my next Colour Subaru if I get my way! Then we will have two blue ones not a Black and a Blue one as we have now

A white EVO X towed by a Crystal White Kluger

That is what I want, but prob not what I will get

BTW, there is one sage colour in the lot today (I am loving the lunch break walk now).

However, I wouldnt call this the most active forum Ive seen thats for sure, and I was thinking if there was one with a little more activity especially with regards to Toyota SUV's.

Not sure y, they just do not know how to google and find this forum? or not care to say a thing. (there is a lot of... it is just a car response).

I will make it a 3 way talk here at least

I have seen lots of Kluger in the last few days. I have seen lots of Graphites (4 on road), one white KX-S in HighPoint Shopping Centre, and one light blue. Yet to see the sage (dark champaign) colour.

Is that the pearl white ? - it almost looks a bit silvery.

It will be interesting to see what you think.

It is pearl white and it does look silvery under the Melbourne spring sun.. 2 colours for the price of one

I keep going to the dealer which is just across the road.....

What disc are you going to put in the audio. I think it will take anything so I am putting some TDKs... I used crappy CD-R for my RX-8's MP3 player and it never has trouble (tell you Mazda is using Pioneer with Bose speakers -- cheap )

I saw my car in the lot today. Picking the beast up Monday.

The handle is nice. I like it (not fully silver but silver white and ... silver)

Looking Good there.

I knew I should have convinced the Mrs to go for the bull bar though. looks Good.

Thanks for the nice words its defanitley a looker every one loves the colour that has seen it in the flesh

The nudge bar was on it we did not option it with it, I tried to trade it for the tow bar, its growing on us know.

I got the new CX9 DVD today looks like it has a better 2nd and 3rd row seat lay out bigger donk 3.7L and 204 Killer wasps just to out do the Toyota.

Time will tell

I got the DVD months before and we post it up here.

As a Mazda man, I should buy it, as it is better looking, drives better, and longer. The 2nd and 3rd row seats may be similar as Mazda take the 3rd row seat picture after moving middle row to the front and take 2nd row shots with the middle seat as far back as possible.

It just updated to a 3.7L with more power, but the US version still only can tow 3500lbs (1600kg). I hope they are putting the 5000 lbs package to it.

It is a Crossover but it lacks the hill ascent function and downhill control.

The interior is inferior to Toyota... did I say that?

Mazda is more cheaper than Toyota with the same spec... so go figure. Mazda will prob price it exactly the same as the Grande. Toyota will not care!

If we could have a source of additional parts from the US it would be real good. I like the tail lights on the Hybrid but not too sure about the grille though.

I think our Grande's might be more similar to the Hybrid??, but I think we still get more standard options on ours??

One thing I saw on the US site was that the Highlander has tyre pressure monitoring, is this correct?

Yes I am sure we could, and it will fit. Highlander = Kluger for the last generation and so do this one. The basic = KX-R + black roof rail. Sports = KX-S plus exhaust tip. Limited = Grande - options . I just tried that build up car site and if they have the same option as us. They have to paid $41 990 plus tax, which is getting very close since most cars in US is nearly half price of us... I guess strong AUD$ helps.

Hybrid is the petrol + electric car. Their grille is lovely... there is not much accessories that I like, and their side step is black. Ours are better, and I think we should tell them.

TPMS - tyre pressure motoring system, is the warning system for tyre puncture. If the tyre is deflated below a certain point, a very ennoying warning sound will go off. There has been a lot of problem in the RX-8 mates in the US.... they go off wrongly and they cannot be made working (and need to take them off) when they swap to an aftermarket wheel. Hassle.

I am sure we are good enough to check tyre pressure every time we fuel up. Or even 1 in 4 times.

Not sure about the colours, I saw a white pearl KX-S in the showroom and it looked pretty good, also saw the graphite at some dealers and it looked pretty good too. I have to say my favourite out of the lot was graphite which is what we ordered, but I must say I saw a burgandy/red one yesterday and I liked it.

We keep seeing KX-R in White that we feel that we were heading to Graphite, particularly we saw one Graphite Grande.... until we went to dinner, passing our dearship, seeing the other salesmen going back to dealership to get boxes of beer he left on Saturday lunch time shopping.... He drives a White Grande. And wife and I gave a thumbs up. The rest is history.

We will get the grill and take pics. The worst is to waste $200 for a piece of plastic.

Have seen some of the conversion from halogen and actually makes it less bright. Xenon, when it does well, meant to have beam that travels longer.

I have Xenon stock from Mazda for my RX-8. And one of the mate got caught because he changes the bulb to 10000K..... they will only notice the super blue xenons, same as the super blue halogens... they are noticeable illegal stuff

It is true that the new car has to come with washers before it is getting sold, but what about people have xenon and change it to aftermarket body kits?

It does not need washer to keep the RWC.... don't think.

Anyhow you can still keep all the ballast wiring and pop the halogen back in when you go for a car check

I am sure cops do not have a list of cars that do not have Xenon comes standard. I mean, if you are keeping the xenon bulb to 5000K *(OEM colour), I will VERY doubt they will check if it is not manufactured by Toyota, especially if you can have put a fade badge on it... You can even fool a Toyota 2nd hand car sales person.

I need some modification idea There aren't many thing you can do to the Highlander in US in the moment, but I found this

The rear light of the Hybrid is so different, and I think it is better than what we have atm.

Also the front grill is also heaps better

Anyone can suggest a US Toyota part site? I will get them and trail fit!

We are getting the white one but the current looks make me think it may look stupid. We may go back to the first colour option of Graphite... so any idea will help

Also when we are get the exterior bits ... can anyone confirm (calling PC XT, especially) that the area at the middle bottom of rear bumper is colour coded. We keep seeing the KX-R today and the middle bottom bit are all black (*non painted). Thanks

Crystal White

Graphite

Crystal White or Graphite. We saw Graphite Grande the other day and it looks cool, but white KX-R is so bad; never see a White Grande.....

maybe have a look at this link, not sure if it helps.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=199700

TA Me thinks the US Sports version is the KXS model may be I keep looking the dealer said it needs an upgrade MP3 cable?

The 2008 Highlander Sport does have one AUX port located inside small compartment underneath center front console and behind the gear stick. This small, narrow compartment also has 12V plug and small shelf large enough for IPOD. We use AUX to plug in satellite radio and our IPOD, although satellite is used more often.

Had a look could not find it

Because you have the Grande the head unit is the SatNav and there is no AUX input. The KX-S Aux input is on the unit front (bottom right corner).

On a side note does any one know where the MP3 input is on the new Grande head unit, I want to connect the rear DVD to the car speakers

Simple answer PC XT: There is none.

On ya guys,

I dont think the kluger should be effected by the same engine issue as the rav ( hope not any way ) as it sounded like it was an engine management issue, the computer?

yeah ECU (engine control module/unit) controls fuel delivery with air fuel mixture in different speed, gear and throttle amount, and it is standard on all fuel injected engines. Because it is a variable valve system in most Toyota engines, ECU now is more sophisticated than 10 years ago. Also, nowadays ECU controls traction control module, cruise control, hill descent, EBD with information coming from ABS system, and even the audio and air con will be integrated in the ECU. Don't forget the immobiliser as well.

That is why the fuel mileage show up on the screen, it is because the fuel is calculated in the ECU and info is transferred to the screen.

If I start to talk about fuel map I will bore you, so just leave it as that :P

Thanks for the links.

I would love to highlight this.

The freeze on RAV4 V6 sales comes only a month after Toyota Australia was forced to halt sales of its locally developed supercharged V6 Aurion TRD sedan after the engine in one of the early models failed. That was traced to some over-enthusiastic driving by a dealer.

I think it is good in a way that Toyota own up its problems. Mazda dealer can hide some of these problem and are rumoured without proof that keep selling "abused" cars as demo.

I have heard blown engine in any make, even a new Honda.

Congrats on the good taste.

Only one more sleep to go before we pick up the wifes blue beast in the morning, thanks for all the info guys, Im pretty happy with our deal ( My company and fleet is my family) Only got one price as you can work out whats a good deal by the web these days. Ours was a company DEMO driven by the dealer principle (and many more I assume) with 3000KMs on the clock, they are now hard to get I was looking at the Turbo Territory Ghia, but happy I chose the gadget bus instead the fords a good car but getting long in the tooth now the only thing that really excited me was the Turbo factor the standard Ghia is a slug.

Hope the engines last longer than the new Ravs Do too. I think the Grande at the right price is light years ahead of the opposition with a lot of standard feature included where the opposition are mostly extras or not available at all, time will tell as they are only relatively new, still Not sure about the Gadget middle seat!....Now to save up for that rip off tow bar.... its only a bit of metal

Adrian

It will be interesting when CX-9 rolls off the floor, but looking at the dash I have to give Kluger a thumbs up. I simply did not enjoy the test drive of the KX-S AWD, after just sat on the Sand colour beige interior Glande (even it is not my choice of colour on both front).

My wife loves it now, since she worked out mentally how to fit someone in the centre when both left and right middle seat has a baby capsule attached.

It is now to work out how to enjoy the car.... suggestion?