2013 Buick Enclave Gets Five-Star Safety Rating from NHTSA

Writer

The 2013 Buick Enclave seven-passenger luxury crossover has earned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's highest safety-test honor: a five-star overall rating. The refreshed 2013 Enclave joins the mechanically related Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia in earning a five-star overall rating.

Though the pre-refresh Buick Enclave also received a five-star overall safety rating from the NHTSA, the 2013 model improved the SUV's frontal crash test performance from four to five stars. The 2013 Enclave has a five-star rating in the side crash category, and four stars for the rollover test. In Insurance Institute for Highway Safety testing, the 2013 Buick Enclave is, like the Traverse and Acadia, a Top Safety Pick. The SUVs have not yet been evaluated in the new small overlap front test, meaning they are not yet eligible for the Top Safety Pick + designation.

Read our 2013 Buick Enclave First Test here.

While the 2013 Enclave has the expected full set of airbags, a blind spot monitoring system, and a rear cross traffic alert system, the SUV also comes standard with a front center airbag. The safety feature is designed to minimize injuries to the driver and front passenger in far-side impact crashes in which the affected occupant is on the side of the vehicle not hit in the collision, Buick says.

The 2013 Infiniti JX -- soon to be renamed the Infiniti QX60 for the 2014 model year -- has an overall four-star rating from the NHTSA but has not been IIHS tested. The soon-to-be-replaced 2013 Acura MDX is also an IIHS Top Safety Pick and has an overall four-star rating from the NHTSA.

Through the first two months of 2012, the Buick Enclave is the brand's best-selling vehicle, with 10,136 units sold. That's just behind the GMC Acadia's 11,816 units and the Chevrolet Traverse's 15,468 units.

Source: Buick

I’ve come a long way since I drove sugar packets across restaurant tables as a kid, pretending they were cars. With more than 17 years of experience, I'm passionate about demystifying the new car market for shoppers and enthusiasts. My expertise comes from thoughtfully reviewing countless vehicles across the automotive spectrum. The greatest thrill I get isn’t just from behind the wheel of an exotic car but from a well-executed car that’s affordable, entertaining, and well-made. Since about the time I learned to walk I’ve been fascinated by cars of all shapes and sizes, but it wasn’t until I struggled through a summer high school class at the Pasadena Art Center College of Design that I realized writing was my ticket into the automotive industry. My drive to high school was magical, taking me through a beautiful and winding canyon; I've never lost the excited feeling some 16-year-olds get when they first set out on the road. The automotive industry, singing, and writing have always been my passions, but because no one seeks a writer who sings about the automotive industry, I honed my writing and editing skills at UC Irvine (zot zot!), serving as an editor of the official campus newspaper and writing stories as a literary journalism major. At USC, I developed a much greater appreciation for broadcast journalists and became acquainted with copy editing rules such as why the Oxford comma is so important. Though my beloved 1996 Audi A4 didn’t survive my college years, my career with MotorTrend did. I started at the company in 2007 building articles for motorcycle magazines, soon transitioning to writing news posts for MotorTrend’s budding online department. I spent some valuable time in the copy editing department, as an online news director, and as a senior production editor. Today, MotorTrend keeps me busy as the Buyer's Guide Director. Not everyone has a career centered on one of their passions, and I remind myself all the time how lucky I am.

Read More

Share

You May Also Like