Experts have reported that the 2013 Honda Civic was able to obtain a “Top Safety Pick +” rating in a recent series of crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Tougher tests have been performed in order to ensure vehicles have been designed to keep drivers safe in small overlap crashes, which is responsible for a high number of traffic accidents that result in fatalities and serious injuries.

Honda has reported that its new generation of the “ACE” body structure has added reinforcement to the vehicle, which may have resulted in a better result in the small overlap crash test.

Automakers have been rushing to make vehicles that pass the new and tougher small overlap crash. Honda and Volvo seem to be ahead when it comes to making sure their vehicles are capable of keeping their drivers safe.

The new Lincoln MKZ and Mazda6 got acceptable safety ratings after the vehicles were tested in the small overlap test performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

To learn more about this test and what vehicles performed well, click here for the full article.