Safety Watchdog Gives Out Record 90 Top Safety Pick Awards in One Day

Sean Tucker 02/24/2021 9:41am

Safety-conscious car buyers have more choices than ever in 2021. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is recognizing 90 new cars from the 2021 model year for their safety features and performance in a series of crash tests. Last year, 64 models won the Top Safety Pick badge.

In all, 49 vehicles earn the Institute’s Top Safety Pick+ designation, more than double last year’s result.

To receive this designation, a vehicle must score a “good” rating in all six of the Institute’s crash tests, and be available with front crash prevention technology that earns a rating of “superior” or “advanced” in both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests. Top Safety Pick winners must be available with “good” or “acceptable” headlights, even if they are offered only as an option. Top Safety Pick+ winners must have good or acceptable headlights as standard equipment.

Hyundai/Kia Tops in Models

“Of all manufacturers, Hyundai Motor Group, including the Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands, has the most 2021 awards — 12 regular Top Safety Picks and five pluses,” the Institute says. “Volvo has the most Top Safety Pick+ awards with nine.”

Mitsubishi remains the only automaker not to have won the award, though IIHS notes that “The low number of awards for General Motors — one Top Safety Pick and one Top Safety Pick+ — is striking for such a large manufacturer.”

The list of criteria is long, and some vehicles qualify on all aspects but one. IIHS explains, “Twelve vehicles are only lacking good or acceptable headlights, while seven don’t have pedestrian crash prevention that earns a superior or advanced rating. Only five fall short on crashworthiness. All five lack a good rating in the passenger-side small overlap front test.”

The IIHS is a research lab funded by an insurance company consortium. It performs its own more stringent crash tests than those performed by the federal government. Though it’s worthwhile for shoppers to consider all safety tests as they make their decision, we find the battery of tests performed by the IIHS to be more rigorous than government testing.

The full list of Top Safety Pick + winners is below. Note that some vehicles are listed as qualifying only after certain dates. This occurred because automakers changed their trim and package details to make qualifying headlights standard sometime after their production run began.