- Voluntary product update will enable early-production vehicles to match the 2014 TOP SAFETY PICK rating
- No other manufacturer has more top-safety rated vehicles built in America than American Honda1
The 2015 Honda Fit (http://automobiles.honda.com/fit/), the standout choice in the subcompact segment, has received a 2014 TOP SAFETY PICK ratingfrom the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). This includes a top rating of GOOD in four IIHS crash test modes and an ACCEPTABLE score in the Insurance Institute’s stringent small overlap frontal crash test. No vehicle in its class has received a higher rating than Fit in this IIHS test procedure.
“Honda’s deep-rooted commitment to safety and to our customers is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that we were not satisfied with anything but a TOP SAFETY PICK for the new 2015 Honda Fit,” said Art St. Cyr, vice president of auto operations at American Honda. “Vehicle by vehicle, our engineers are passionate about developing safety technologies that consumers have come to trust and expect from Honda.”
An early-production 2015 Honda Fit was originally tested in March for the 2014 award year by IIHS and earned a GOOD in four out of five IIHS crash test modes and a MARGINAL score in the challenging small overlap frontal crash test. Demonstrating a strong commitment to safety, Honda engineers responded quickly with a modification to the Fit’s front bumper structure. Subsequent testing by IIHS confirmed the success of the design change, which has been incorporated into new vehicle production.
“Though there is no regulatory requirement to do this, in keeping with Honda’s long-standing commitment to safety and focus on its customers, Honda has voluntarily engineered a product update which will allow all early-production vehicles to share the 2014 TOP SAFETY PICK rating,” said St. Cyr.
In addition to changes in production models, approximately 12,000 early-production 2015 Honda Fit vehicles will be eligible for a product update involving a front bumper beam replacement, which will be completed free of charge at any Honda dealer in the United States. This update allows all early-production vehicles to qualify for a TOP SAFETY PICK rating and the same score in the small overlap test as recently built models. Honda is announcing this voluntary product update to encourage all owners that purchased an early-production vehicle to take their new Fit to an authorized dealer as soon as they receive notification of this update from Honda. At that time, Fit owners will also have access to a special phone line that will allow them to determine if their vehicle is eligible for the update or if it already has the updated bumper design from the factory.
