The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave the new Ford Fusion – Mondeo in Europe – its Top Safety Pick+ award, recognizing its excellent performance in the latest series of tests, including the challenging new small overlap front crash test.

The overlap test has already caused trouble for some car makers, such as Toyota, whose cars didn’t achieve the Acceptable rating needed to pass. That small ‘+’ is what sets the Fusion apart, as it means the vehicles has achieved good ratings for occupant protection in at least 4 of 5 IIHS evaluations, with no less than acceptable in any test. It is the highest recommendation the organization has.

The new Fusion relies not only on the usual array of airbags, electronic systems, and other conventional safety features, it has the Personal Safety System, which is a network of components that work together to tailor the deployment of the front airbags during frontal collisions. It is sort of like Mercedes’ PRE-SAFE system.

The car also benefits from advanced airbags with curve-shaped tether system for the driver, and redesigned seat-mounted side airbags which deploy lower in the pelvis area and incorporate new venting technology. Other driver assist technologies that are offered on the Fusion include:

•       Lane Keeping Assist
•       Lane Keeping Aid
•       Driver Monitoring 
•       Adaptive Cruise Control
•       Rearview Camera
•       Front/Rear Park Aids
•       Hill Start Assist
•       Electronic Parking Break