2015 Chevrolet Equinox Leads Bowtie Quartet to Top Safety Pick Status

The 2015 Chevrolet Equinox has gotten off to a strong start for the new selling season, posting record sales volume in November and then achieving a notable safety recognition this month from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). That latter honor for the 2015 Chevrolet Equinox, of course, is a Top Safety Pick rating that included "Good" scores—the highest possible awarded—in all five facets of IIHS testing.

In fact, the 2015 Chevrolet Equinox not only aced the small front-overlap, moderate front-overlap, side-impact, rollover, and restraints/seats evaluations, it also received "Good" scores in 27 of the individual 28 sub-tests, too. Then, as an added bonus, the IIHS recognized the 2015 Chevrolet Equinox for offering a "Basic" level of front-crash prevention technology, courtesy of the vehicle's available forward collision alert system.

Other safety highlights of the 2015 Chevrolet Equinox include forward collision alert, a rearview camera system, rear park assist, an array of six airbags, GM's StabiliTrak electronic stability control system, traction control, rollover-mitigation technology, and anti-lock brakes, many of which are also found on the Chevy's other three recent Top Safety Picks.

Speaking of which, that trio included the Chevy Spark, which remains the only city-sized car in the country with a Top Safety Pick ranking; the Chevy Volt, providing another advantage against the unranked Nissan Leaf; and the Chevy Malibu, also reaping "Good" grades across the five major IIHS testing categories and complementing that achievement with a "Basic" grade for front crash-prevention technology.

The party line from Steven Majoros, director of Chevrolet Cars and Crossover Marketing: “Receiving this recognition from IIHS for the 2015 Spark, Volt, Malibu and Equinox is great news for Chevrolet and even greater news for our customers.”

(Note: Safety-minded readers may recall that both the Equinox and Malibu actually were Top Safety Pick+ vehicles for the previous model year; the change in status to the standard Top Safety Pick designation doesn't reflect changes to the 2015 Chevrolet Equinox or Malibu, however. Instead, it’s a reflection of some fine-tuning with the IIHS TSP+ criteria, which now require an "Advanced" or "Superior" rating for front crash-prevention technology.)