Washington DC, Nov 19 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The insurance industry has come out with the list of the safest vehicles and the top three spots are occupied by Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen. This study was conducted by a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms.

The Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded its “top safety pick” on Wednesday to 19 passenger cars and eight sport utility vehicles for the 2010 model year. The institute substantially reduced the number of awards compared with 2009, because of tougher requirements for the roof strength of the automobiles.

Ford Motor Co. and its Volvo unit received the maximum number of awards with a tally of six, followed by five awards each for Japanese automobile maker Subaru and German automaker Volkswagen AG and its Audi unit.

Chrysler Group LLC was also in the fray and they received four awards followed by two each for Honda Motor Co. and General Motors Co.

Automobile major Ford said in a statement that it is “committed to providing customers with safe vehicles for a broad range of real-world crash conditions.”

Tom Doll, executive vice president and COO of Subaru of America, said that the safety awards were a “tribute to the engineering that goes into Subaru products.”