Consumers looking for a safe ride are in for good news as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has given 90 different models their Top Safety Pick award.
This is a significant increase from last year when just 64 vehicles were given the thumbs up.
Without further ado, let’s jump into the details. 41 vehicles earned the ‘standard’ Top Safety Pick as they received good ratings in all six of the institute’s crashworthiness tests as well as advanced or superior ratings in vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests. On top of that, the models had to be offered with headlights that were deemed either acceptable or good.
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Among the winners were the Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra and Toyota Corolla. The IIHS also named the Audi A4, BMW 3-Series, Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Escape and Hyundai Sonata as Top Safety Picks.
While that’s just a partial list, it is interesting to note only one pickup earned the coveted Top Safety Pick award. That was the Ram 1500 Crew Cab, but only when equipped with optional front crash prevention.
A further 49 models received the Top Safety Pick+ award, which is the IIHS’ highest honor. In order to win, vehicles needed to meet the aforementioned safety standards as well as come standard with acceptable or good headlights across all trim levels and packages.
Luxury vehicles – such as the Audi A6, Cadillac XT6, Lexus NX and Volvo S60 – dominated the list, but there were also a number of mainstream models. Among of them was the Ford Explorer, Honda Accord, Kia K5, Nissan Maxima, Mazda CX-5 and Toyota Sienna.
Overall, the Hyundai Motor Group performed best as 12 models from the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands were named a Top Safety Pick while five others won a Top Safety Pick+ award. Volvo was also praised for having the most overall Top Safety Pick+ awards with nine altogether.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the IIHS noted Mitsubishi has “failed to earn a single award so far.” The group also criticized GM as they said it was “striking” that such a large automaker only won two awards.
