The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s small overlap crash test is clearly no longer catching manufacturers off-guard, and they have already begun factoring it into the structural design of all their new cars. Proof is the impressive overall performance achieved by the 2015 Sonata midsized sedan.

Still, even if they had time to prepare and factor in the new and demanding small overlap crash, Hyundai was not able to make the Sonata achieve the full score in the area – it’s only rated as ‘acceptable,’ yet this is offset by ‘good’ ratings in the moderate front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests.

The car achieved the highest IIHS designation, Top Safety Pick+ overall, also thanks to the availability of an optional forward collision warning system. It wasn’t of the most sophisticated kind out there and provided “only minimal speed reduction” during testing and it was therefore rated as ‘basic.’

By Andrei Nedelea

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