Which are the safest cars on the road? The answer hasn't been easy to determine.

But now the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the insurance-industry-funded group that conducts a battery of crash tests, has combined its ratings into "gold" and "silver" safety awards. That should make it simpler to pick a truly safe car.

Different methods

The confusion comes from too much information. IIHS conducts frontal, side and rear crash tests and rates them good, acceptable, marginal or poor. The government's safercar.gov National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also conducts crash tests -- frontal and side but not rear -- as well as a rollover test and rates vehicles with one to five stars.

Besides different rating scales, the two groups test for slightly different things.

In the IIHS front crash test, a vehicle travels 40 mph into a barrier, and only one side of the front end, not the full width, hits it. The front end on the struck side crushes more than in a full-width test, and you have a pretty good idea how much damage there would be to your lower extremities in a similar crash.

But NHTSA crashes the full width of the vehicle into a barrier at 35 mph. Vehicles usually survive such crashes with less damage, but the seatbelts get a thorough workout. Translation: It's a good test of potential for head and chest injury.

On side-crash tests, IIHS simulates crashes by SUVs and pickups, which tend to hit other vehicles higher up. In such crashes, your head is most vulnerable. NHTSA's test more closely simulates crashes between vehicles of similar height and thus is a good test of potential for chest injury.

The tests are conducted throughout the model year, so it often takes a while for new designs or redesigned vehicles to be tested. Plus, neither group tests low-volume cars -- mostly higher-priced luxury or sports cars.

The winners

IIHS looked at 2006 model small, midsize and large cars, as well as minivans, for which it had a complete set of test results. SUVs and trucks were not included because side-impact tests haven't been conducted on most models.

Four cars won the gold award, meaning they received good ratings for front-, side- and rear-crash tests. Six cars were awarded silver, meaning they earned a "good" for front and side crashes and "acceptable" for the rear-crash test (designed to see how well the seat and head restraints protect against neck injuries).

Among large cars, the only gold winner was the Ford Five Hundred (and its twin, the Mercury Montego) equipped with optional side airbags. For midsize cars, the Saab 9-3 and Subaru Legacy earned gold. And the lone small-car gold winner was the new Honda Civic.

Silver winners among large cars included the Audi A6. Among midsize cars, the Audi A4, Audi A3, Chevy Malibu with optional side air bags, Volkswagen Jetta and VW Passat scored silver. No small cars earned a silver award, mostly because they didn't meet the standard for side crashes -- with or without side airbags.

No minivans met the standards for either gold or silver, mainly because their seat/head restraints are rated marginal or poor.

Awards are sorted by size and weight because crash-test scores are designed to compare vehicles of similar weight. All the winners have head-protection side airbags.

One surprise: No Volvos made the list. That's because the models tested received "good" on front and rear tests but only "acceptable" on side-impact tests (the S80 has not been tested for side crashes).

Got a question? E-mail Jessica at janderson@kiplinger.com

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