IIHS Bumps Six Models Up to Top Safety Picks

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has bumped a handful of models up the charts, awarding them its coveted “Top Safety Pick Plus” award for 2025. However, some of those are dependent upon a specific manufacturing date — as specific updates ended up being the deciding factor.

Vehicles now deemed good enough by the IIHS included the Hyundai Elantra, Kia K4 Toyota Prius, Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Murano, and all-electric Toyota bZ4X.

According to the IIHS, the item holding the back bZ4X happened to be its headlights. This is something the outlet has become a stickler on in recent years and examples of the bZ4X manufactured prior to January 2025 (specifically the XLE trim) were deemed “marginal.” Now, all trims of the EV have qualified as good — allowing the vehicle to achieve top marks for safety.

Headlight ratings are decided upon by a combination of how well they illuminate the road ahead and whether or not they’re prone toward blinding oncoming traffic. While those factors are highly conditional, the IIHS has repeatedly updated its testing protocols to make them more comprehensive.

From the IIHS:

To qualify for either Top Safety Pick+ or the lower-tier Top Safety Pick award this year, vehicles need good ratings in the small overlap front and updated side tests, an acceptable or good rating in the pedestrian front crash prevention evaluation and acceptable- or good-rated headlights across all trim levels.

An acceptable rating in the updated moderate overlap front test is enough to qualify for Top Safety Pick, but a good rating is required for the “plus.”

For several vehicles, the award applies only to models built after a certain date, when their manufacturers made modifications to improve rear occupant protection. The award applies to Elantras built after October 2024, Sonatas built after November 2024 and K4s built after January 2025.

The IIHS likewise noted that it had updated ratings for the Ford Bronco, Ford Bronco Sport and Volkswagen Taos.

Broncos were set back by marginal ratings for its headlights and moderate overlap crash performance. It also received a marginal score for its pedestrian front crash prevention system, which is now taken into consideration when deciding whether or not a vehicle can be deemed a “Top Safety Pick.”

Pedestrian front crash prevention typically requires some form of sensing equipment and automatic emergency braking. Testing is conducted by pulling a dummy at different times of day while the vehicle approaches at different speeds. While having a vehicle that automatically stops for foot traffic doesn’t seem that relevant in overall occupant safety — and is perhaps undesirable if you despise electronic nannies — it does provide an additional layer of protection for inattentive drivers.

The smaller Ford Bronco Sport performed slightly better overall. But was still deemed lacking in terms of the updated frontal overlap test. As with the Bronco, testing of the Bronco Sport allegedly “indicated an elevated risk of injuries” to dummies in the rear seat. While its headlight evaluation went better than Big Bronco, side impact testing on the Bronco Sport was deemed “average.”

Then there was the Volkswagen Taos, which could have had a better showing. The IIHS issued marginal ratings for updated overlap test and pedestrian detection. Small overlap and side crash testing were deemed average.

Taos models were also given “poor” scores for lacking seat-belt reminders effective accident avoidance tech. But those items (perhaps thankfully) aren’t yet included as part of deciding whether vehicles are eligible for IIHS safety pick awards.

Obviously, the premise of a vehicle being an insurance group’s top pick doesn’t negate the fact that totally avoiding an accident is still the better option. The same could be said of incidents where a smaller vehicle comes into contact with a much larger automobile, as you cannot change the laws of physics. However, these are useful data points to have and will undoubtedly be the deciding factor for some consumers.

[Images: Hyundai; Toyota; Ford; Volkswagen]

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