Sonic receives Top Safety Pick Award
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
September 14, 2011
2012 Chevrolet Sonic replaces the Aveo
The new for 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, a small 4-door car that replaces the Aveo, earns top ratings across the board in the Institute’s safety evaluations, qualifying as a Top Safety Pick.
Vehicles qualify if they earn good ratings for front, side, rollover, and rear crash protection, and have electronic stability control (ESC). A federal regulation requires ESC for all cars built after September 1, 2011.
The Sonic’s performance is an improvement over the Aveo, which earned an acceptable rating in the Institute’s frontal test, and only marginal ratings in the other 3 evaluations.
In the Institute’s roof strength test for rollover protection, the roof of the Sonic withstood a force equal to 5.37 times the car’s weight. Vehicles with a strength-to-weight ratio of 4 or higher earn a good rating in the test. In contrast, the Aveo’s roof withstood a force equal to 3.09 times the car’s weight.
The Top Safety Pick designation also applies to the structurally similar hatchback version of the Sonic.
