Forty-five vehicles won the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest safety honor, Top Safety Pick+, in 2026. Mazda placed eight vehicles in the top tier, more than any other automaker selling models under a single brand.
It was a significant enough accomplishment for the institute itself to take notice. IIHS President David Harkey said, “Mazda continues to excel in safety with eight IIHS Top Safety Pick+ models this year.”
Harkey also noted that Mazda did not confine safety features to more expensive vehicles, adding, “They are providing consumers with the best in safety features at a range of prices.”
About the Awards
The IIHS is not a government agency. It’s a car safety laboratory funded by car insurance companies, which have a financial interest in making car accidents rare and relatively safe.
It performs a series of crash tests on most cars, not every year, but when they are redesigned. The institute scores cars as Good, Acceptable, Moderate, or Poor.
The institute grants awards in two tiers — Top Safety PIck and Top Safety Pick+. The IIHS routinely makes its tests more difficult each year. This year, the criteria changed to require additional accident prevention measures. To earn the highest honor in 2026, a car must earn high marks in six tests:
- Small overlap front crash test (Good rating required): Simulates what happens when the front corner of your car hits another vehicle or object, like a tree or utility pole
- Moderate overlap front crash test (Good rating required): Tests how well the vehicle protects a driver and one rear seat passenger in a frontal collision where the two cars’ bumpers overlap slightly.
- Side crash test (Good rating required): Simulates being hit from the side, like at an intersection
- Headlights (Acceptable or Good rating required on all trims): Evaluates how well the headlights illuminate the road at night, since poor visibility is a major factor in crashes
- Pedestrian crash prevention (Good rating required): Tests whether the vehicle’s automatic braking system can detect a simulated pedestrian, warn the driver, and begin braking to mitigate a crash.
- Vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention (Acceptable or Good rating required): A new requirement for 2026 that tests whether the vehicle can automatically slow down or stop to avoid hitting another car, motorcycle, or semi-truck at highway speeds up to 43 mph.
The Winners
Honored models included:
- 2026 Mazda3 sedan and hatchback
- 2026 Mazda CX-30
- 2026 Mazda CX-50
- 2026 Mazda CX-70 and CX-70 Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV
- 2026 Mazda CX-90 and CX-90 PHEV
How Mazda Wins
Mazda notes that the brand “equips all its new vehicles with proven crash avoidance features as standard equipment.” Blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, automatic emergency braking, and lane departure warning are all standard equipment on most Mazda vehicles, even the brand’s entry-level Mazda3 sedan, available as low as $25,785.
