Leaf, Volt electric vehicles get top safety marks

The first of the new mass-market electric cars have won the highest safety ratings from an insurance industry trade group.

The Nissan Leaf, which is a powered only by electricity, and the Chevrolet Volt, which technically is a plug-in hybrid vehicle because it also has a small gasoline engine, were named Top Safety Picks by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

This was the trade group?s first U.S. crash test evaluations of plug-in and pure electric cars.

The Volt and Leaf earned the top rating of ?good? for front, side, rear, and rollover crash protection. And they both have standard electronic stability control, which the institute considers a critical safety feature.

The test results demonstrate that automakers are using the same safety engineering in new electric cars that they do in gasoline-powered vehicles, the institute said.

?The Leaf and Volt demonstrate that safety and green can go hand-in-hand: While both of these cars are small in size, their battery packs add significant weight, making them safer than other cars in their class,? said Joe Nolan, the institute's chief administrative officer. ?From a safety perspective, using technology to boost fuel economy is preferable to making cars smaller and lighter to achieve the same results.?

The test results were in stark contrast to tests of two low-speed electric vehicles last year.

Results for the GEM e2 and Wheego Whip found damage to test dummies that indicated severe or fatal injuries to real drivers. Both belong to a class of golf cart-like vehicles that aren't required to meet the same federal safety standards as passenger vehicles.

"Eco-minded drivers keen on switching to electric would do well to buy a Leaf or Volt for highway driving instead of a low-speed vehicle if they're at all concerned about being protected in a crash," Nolan said.

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-- Jerry Hirsch
LATimesJerry/Twitter

Photo: Nissan Leaf crash test. Credit: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety