IIHS Highlights Prius, Insight, Soul for Safety

Toyota Motor Corp’s redesigned Toyota Prius and Honda Motor Co Ltd’s Insight — both gasoline-electric hybrids — and Kia Motors Corp’s Soul won honors from a leading U.S. safety group Thursday for crash protection.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an insurance-industry backed organization that measures front, side and rear crash test performance, added the three vehicles to its top-10 list for 2010 small cars.

Safety award winners must achieve the highest crash test ratings of “good” and offer stability control, an electronic feature that works to prevent rollover. Stability control is standard on the Prius and Soul, and optional on the Insight.

The group had previously announced its other picks for small car safety. They included Ford Motor Co’s Focus, the Honda Civic, Mitsubishi Motors Corp’s Lancer, the Toyota Scion xB and Corolla, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd’s Subaru Impreza and Volkswagen AG’s Rabbit. (Reporting by John Crawley, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)