All four of the 2016 Volkswagen vehicles scheduled for release later this month received a top safety pick rating from the insurance institute for Highway Safety.
The institute is one of two agencies in the US that award such rating and the 2016 version of the Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Golf GTI 4-door and Volkswagen SportWagen all managed to earn the rating.
In order to earn the award, vehicles must meet all four standards set by IIHS. Vehicles must score at least “good” rating in all four categories that are: moderate overlap front, head restraint test, roof strength and side strength. Vehicles also must score acceptable rating in category small overlap front crash test.
The 2016 lineup of the Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen SportWagen and Volkswagen Jetta are the first in their generation to achieve the Top Safety Pick Plus rating. The 2015 versions didn’t manage to meet the standards, scoring only “basic” rating in the IIHS categories and they were particularly weak in the front crash prevention.
The difference between the 2015 and the 2016 version is the new Front Assist System, which is optional and costs $695 for any of the four vehicles. The system is part of the larger Driver Assistance Package, which brings emergency braking and forward collision warning to the driver.
The Volkswagen Golf managed to achieve the top safety pick award in 2014, but back then, it wasn’t required for cars to earn great rating in crash prevention. The 2015 model failed to achieve the rating, but the 2016 model has increased the level of safety measures.
The 2016 lineup of Jetta, SportWagen and Golf includes post-collision braking as part of the standard equipment, but not the Driver Assistance Package. In short, if you want to have a vehicle that is safer and better equipped to cope with the troubles on the road, you should pay a little extra. If not, the standard version of the Volkswagen Golf and Volkswagen Jetta are not as safe as advertised.
There is still room for improvement, as neither the Jetta nor the Golf have scored top rating on the NCAP crash-test.
The pricing for the 2016 lineup is not announced yet. They are scheduled to go on sale later this month. Even though the pricing is not announced, we can speculate knowing the price of the current models. Since all four vehicles get a small improvement in the safety department, an increase of $1,000 is plausible and likely scenario. For information, the prices for the 2015 versions are as following: Golf 4-door starting at $21,815, Jetta starting at $17,035, GTI 4-door starting at $26,205 and SportWagen starting at $22,215.
