GREAT NEWS!
The 2015 Mazda3, Mazda6 and Mazda CX5 all earn the Top Safety Pick “Plus+” Rating by the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety and offer the highest levels of occupant crash protection in their class.

Through years of study The Insurance Institute For Highway Safety has found that rarely are vehicles involved in direct head on collisions. Most often drivers manage to swerve and hit another car or tree on the left front 25% of the vehicle.

Unfortunately most vehicles are ill-equipped to absorb this type of impact. The wheel assembly gets pushed in towards the driver and in turn intrudes into the leg area of the cabin and most often deflects the steering column over. The problem here is that the airbag that deploys from the steering wheel is now moved to the right of the driver, allowing the drivers head to hit the dash, windshield or A-pillar of the car.

Mazda has addressed this by sweeping the crumple zones all the way out toward the fender, rather than coming back directly to the struts. This allows the car to absorb the energy of the 25% overly impact, decreasing the likelihood of injuries.

The Small Overlap Frontal Crash test involves running the car at 40 MPH into a barrier on the left 25% of the vehicle. If the wheel assembly is not forced into the drivers space and the crash test dummy hits the airbag, then the car passes the test. So when you see that a car is “Top Safety Pick Plus”, this is the “Plus” part of the test. The Mazda3, Mazda6, and Mazda CX-5 all pass the test and offered the highest levels of occupant crash protection in their class.