It is no surprise that a Volkswagen vehicle once again earned a five-star safety rating from The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA). The company just released more 2012 model-year safety ratings at the close of December and among the ones featured is the Volkswagen Passat. Even with the NHTSA's more stringent guidelines, the Passat proved so resilient in front, rollover, and combined side-pole and barrier tests that it earned a perfect five-star composite score.

You might recognize the side-poll criteria as new to the NHTSA suite of crash tests. Ultimately, it's designed to simulate a car, SUV or truck colliding with a tree, or perhaps a telephone pole, at no more than 20 miles per hour.  As in the frontal crash test, the 2012 Volkswagen Passat earned five-out-of-five stars in this category. In the rollover portion of the test, the Passat earned a near-perfect four-out-of-five-star rating.

Given the NHTSA's more challenging criteria, the list of cars that have earned a perfect five-star composite rating are few. While they will test a total of 74 2012 model-year vehicles total, the Volkswagen Passat is currently on a short list of just seven with an overall five-star rating.

A few Other Things You Should Know about the Volkswagen Passat: It was named "2012Motor Trend Car of the Year". It is painted with America's first waterless paint process. It was QA'd at least 10 times during production. It was built in Chattanooga, TN, at the first automotive manufacturing facility in the world to earn a Platinum LEED certification.

For complete details, contact us today. Or, visit East Coast Volkswagen in person for a test drive. Located conveniently at 8756C Hwy 17 ByPass S Myrtle Beach, SC 2958, we're very easy to find.