Automakers are going to have to pass tougher side-crash tests to win these coveted titles
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Only 48 vehicles tested by the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) have earned the organization’s highest crash-test awards for 2023, down from 101 last year. That’s due to a new side test that better simulates being struck by a larger SUV at higher speed, and it’s the one that many vehicles are failing.
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The IIHS started administering the new test in 2021, but it only now becomes part of the criteria for the highest Top Safety Pick and Safety Pick+ awards. In the updated awards, a vehicle must earn “Good” or “Acceptable” — the highest and second-highest ratings — to be considered for the Top Safety Pick, and must rate “Good” for Pick+.
The new test involves 82 per cent more crash energy than the previous side test. Along with it, a vehicle must also earn “Good” ratings for driver’s side small overlap crash, passenger-side small overlap front, and original moderate overlap front to earn the top prizes. However, for these top awards, IIHS has removed the results of roof strength, head restraints, and vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention. That’s due to industry improvements that make the tests “less relevant in their current form,” the IIHS said, citing U.S. federal standards for roof strength and mandatory stability control that has reduced the number of rollover crashes.
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Other tests that have been upgraded are nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention, and headlight performance. A vehicle may earn Top Safety Pick if its daytime vehicle-to-pedestrian protection is rated “Advanced or Superior,” but it must also earn those for nighttime protection to be a Pick+. Both Pick and Pick+ also require “Acceptable” or “Good” headlights on all trim levels; these previously could be awarded if at least one trim’s lights earned those levels.
While 101 vehicles earned an award last year, 65 of them were for the highest Top Safety Pick+. Among the 48 for this year, 20 earn the Pick+ designation. “The number of winners is smaller this year because we’re challenging automakers to build on the safety gains they’ve already achieved,” said David Harkey, president of IIHS. “These models are true standouts in both crashworthiness and crash prevention.”
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Among the top 2023 winners, Toyota/Lexus has the most with nine Top Safety Pick+ and six Top Safety Picks. Honda/Acura has six Pick+ and two Picks, while Mazda is next with six Pick awards. Overall, midsize luxury SUVs earned the highest number of awards, followed by small SUVs, but IIHS said that “vehicles of almost every size and class make the cut, including plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles.”
The outgoing side test was introduced in 2003 and most vehicles earned a “Poor” rating, but by 2021, when the new test was first introduced, “virtually every vehicle built for the U.S. market earned a ‘Good’ rating in the original test,” the IIHS said. “Manufacturers deserve congratulations for that progress, which has saved many lives. In the real world, a driver of a vehicle rated ‘Good’ in the original test is 70 per cent less likely to die in a left-side crash, compared with a driver of a vehicle rated ‘Poor.’”
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More changes will come in 2024, when the Top Safety Pick will require a vehicle to rate only “Good” in the side test and not “Acceptable.” A new moderate overlap front test was launched last year, and vehicles will have to earn “Good” or “Acceptable” for Top Safety Pick+. The new test includes an additional dummy in the second row, which will have to be protected as well as the dummies in the front row.
For 2023, these are the Top Safety Pick+ Winners. Note that these are U.S.-specification vehicles.
Small Cars
Midsize Cars
Large Luxury Cars
Small SUVs
Midsize SUVs
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Midsize Luxury SUVs
Minivans
Large Pickups
These are the 2023 Top Safety Pick Winners
Small Cars
Midsize Cars
Midsize Luxury Cars
Small SUVs
Midsize SUVs
Midsize Luxury SUVs
Jil McIntosh
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