National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

Crash testing brand-new vehicles may rub the Puritan ethic the wrong way, but it's the only sure way to find out just what a car is capable of in terms of protecting its occupants. Today a new round of testing by the IIHS reveals how the first batch of small SUVs holds up under new roof-strength standards. Previous tests adhered to the NHTSA's roof-strength standard of 2.5 times the vehicle's weight. Now the IIHS has boosted its standard for selection as a Top Safety Pick to a full four times the vehicle's weight with a maximum crush of 5 inches. The new results show only 4 of the 12 small...