USA - Mitsubishi celebrates two models getting "Top Safety Pick" 2015 awards.

• 7-passenger Outlander named an IIHS "Top Safety Pick+"
• 5-passenger Outlander Sport designated an IIHS "Top Safety Pick"
• Lancer compact sports sedan earns an IIHS "Top Safety Pick" rating

Today a pair of Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) crossovers – the 2015 Outlander and 2015 Outlander Sport – and the 2015 Lancer compact sports sedan (except Ralliart and Evolution) were named "Top Safety Pick" award recipients by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an independent non-profit scientific and educational organization that researches, performs evaluations and assesses safety ratings in crash testing of production vehicles.

The 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander was designated a "Top Safety Pick+" rated vehicle by the IIHS – the highest safety award designation offered by the organization – because of the availability of Forward Collision Mitigation (FCM) technology that alerts drivers to a potential frontal collision with visual and audio alerts and automatically applies emergency braking to reduce the severity of the collision or help avoid it altogether.

The 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport earned an IIHS "Top Safety Pick" rating, marking the fourth straight year that the brand's best-selling vehicle has achieved this safety designation, while the 2015 Mitsubishi Lancer was named a "Top Safety Pick" for the seventh consecutive year.

"Thanks to our advanced high-tech engineering and safety features, the Mitsubishi Lancer, Outlander and Outlander Sport have consistently achieved high IIHS safety ratings," said Don Swearingen, Executive Vice President of MMNA. "The Mitsubishi RISE safety body construction system is the perfect example of this kind of technology. In the event of an accident, energy is absorbed and deflected away from the occupant cell, which enhances passenger protection."

Additional standard safety features found on the Mitsubishi Lancer, Outlander and Outlander Sport include seven air bags, Active Stability Control, Traction Control Logic, Tire Pressure Monitoring System, and Anti-lock braking system with Electronic brake-force Distribution and Brake Assist.