The 2021-2022 Tesla Model Y and Model 3 have earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) “Top Safety Pick+” award.
According to the IIHS, Model Ys built after April 2021 meet all the criteria for the Top Safety Pick+ award even though Tesla has moved to camera-only systems for its advanced driver assistance features, a move that ended up stripping the Model 3 of its rating earlier this year. Despite that, according to IIHS testing, the crossover’s standard front crash prevention system earns superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests.
Indeed, 2021-2022 Tesla Model 3 built after April 2021 earn “superior” ratings in both crash avoidance tests following a software update. Vehicles built before that also featured radar only earned an “advanced” rating in the vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluation.
Read Also: Tesla Goes Radar-less: New Models To Switch To Camera-Based Autopilot
To earn the highly sought-after Top Safety Pick+ award, a vehicle has to receive “good” ratings in the six IIHS crashworthiness evaluations, including the driver-side small overlap front, the passenger-side small overlap front, the moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength, and head restraint crash tests.
In addition to that, the vehicle must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations.
Finally, the vehicle’s headlights must get “good” or “acceptable” ratings across all trim levels, something that recently took down the Ford Bronco Four-Door.