The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has released crash-test results for the new 2015 Audi A3 sedan which fared quite well and took one of the top positions among all vehicles tested.

Midsize luxury car earns the IIHS Top Safety Pick Award

According to the IIHS, the A3 Sedan is in fact the first Audi model to earn the 2014 Top Safety Pick Plus moniker, as it scored ‘good’ rating in the small overlap test – where a car is crashed into a barrier at 40 mph with 25 percent of the front end. That’s in addition to ‘good’ ratings for frontal and side impact, rear (head restraints), and roof strength (rollover).

The optional front crash prevention system was also taken into account, and received an ‘advanced’ rating after successfully avoiding a crash in the Institute’s 12 mph test.

The only place where the Audi A3 Sedan faltered was in the side impact test, where it scored two ‘acceptable’ ratings (the second highest rating) for torso and pelvis/leg injuries. The report says that during the side impact test, the dummy shows that “rib fractures plus a fracture of the pelvis would be possible in a crash of this severity.”

Safety features on the 2015 Audi A3 sedan include side airbags: front and rear head curtain airbags and front seat-mounted torso airbags (standard), rear seat-mounted torso airbags (optional), rollover sensor: designed to deploy the side curtain airbags in the event of an impending rollover, driver and front passenger knee airbags: separate airbags in the lower instrument panel designed to minimize knee injuries in frontal crashes, electronic stability control, antilock brakes, and daytime running lights.

“The Top Safety Pick Plus rating for the A3 sedan demonstrates the full Audi commitment to safety,” said Mark Del Rosso, Chief Operating Officer, Audi of America. “With a host of standard luxury features, industry-first technology and uncompromised design, the Audi A3 raises the bar as to what is expected out of entry-level luxury vehicles.”

2015 Audi A3 Sedan small overlap IIHS crash test