2011 Buick Regal is the seventh vehicle from General Motors to earn IIHS Top Safety Pick Award since the introduction of the new rollover test. Apparently GM cars have very strong roofs! The Regal with its standard electronic stability control achieved “Good” rating, which is the highest score possible, in front, side, rollover, and rear tests as well as in Structure/safety cage, Head/neck, Chest, Leg/foot, left & right, and Restraints/dummy kinematics injury measures.

In rollover crash test, a metal plate is pushed against one corner of a vehicle’s roof at a constant speed. The maximum force sustained by the roof before 5 inches of crush is compared to the vehicle’s weight to find the strength-to-weight ratio. The roof of the Regal withstood a force equal to nearly 5 times the car’s weight. For comparison, the current federal standard is 1.5 times weight.