Fiat’s award-winning safety hits home for local woman

Towbin Fiat/Alfa Romeo and Fiat put the highest priority on customer safety. The 2016 Fiat 500X was recently named an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick+, earning good ratings in all five of the organization’s crashworthiness tests and an advanced rating for front crash prevention.

No one knows Fiat’s safety benefits more than Allie Thornton, a Las Vegas woman who unfortunately experienced them firsthand in an accident last year.

Thornton, who owned a Fiat 500 Pop from Towbin Fiat/Alfa Romeo, was driving home around 5 p.m. in a 45 mph zone when the car in front of her stopped suddenly. Due to the intense glare of the afternoon sun, Thornton swerved to avoid a collision but struck the forward vehicle with her car’s passenger side corner panel, causing her to spin 180 degrees into the adjacent lane.

“The air bags, in particular the curtain airbag that deployed above the driver’s side window, saved my life,” Thornton said. “If it wasn’t for that air bag, I would have whiplashed my head into the window and cracked my skull. The interior frame held up incredibly well considering the high rate of speed, and it kept me from receiving any additional injuries.”

Although her car was declared a total loss, Thornton walked away cut and bruised, but ultimately sustaining no major injuries. She credits the safety features of Fiat for being able to tell her story today.

“I loved my Fiat and was very thankful that the safety features kept me so safe,” said Thornton. “You never really think about the safety aspects of the car until you need them, and I’m very lucky to have walked almost completely unharmed. Every experience that I’ve had with Towbin has been a positive one, and I will definitely visit them again first when it comes time for a new car.”

Towbin Fiat/Alfa Romeo is located at 2550 S. Jones Blvd. and is open from 8 a.m.-9.m. Monday through Saturday.