Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has rewarded Mercury Montego and Ford Five Hundred cars with a Gold “Top Safety Pick” award when these vehicles were equipped with optional side airbags, while Audi A6 won the Silver award for large cars. Out of these three cars, Montego and the Five Hundred are typically different versions of the same car with unique features. Cars with Gold awards achieved "good" ratings for their front, side and rear-impact protection.
In the round of awards, SUV’s and Pickups were not included as the side impact tests of these cars have not been yet conducted. Of those, five cars have been manufactured by sister-companies Audi and Volkswagen and Audi, which won the Silver awards.