The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) on Thursday launched its Top Safety Pick awards for 2022, which ranks vehicles primarily based on crash checks, crash prevention techniques with different autos and pedestrians, and the way effectively the headlights work.
To qualify for an award, a automobile should earn six good rankings on crash checks from “driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength, and head restraint tests.”
Cars should additionally earn a complicated to superior score with crash prevention techniques for a number of car and vehicle-pedestrian crashes. A very good to acceptable score on at the very least one headlight system can be required to qualify for a Top Safety Pick award.
Top Safety Pick+ Award Recipients
Sixty-five vehicles certified for a 2022 IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award, together with the Honda Civic hatchback sedan, Honda Insight, Mazda 3 hatchback sedan, and Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid within the small vehicles class.
For mid-size vehicles, the Honda Accord, Kia K5, Nissan Altima, Nissan Maxima, Subaru Legacy, Subaru Outback, and Toyota Camry had been included amongst Pick+ award recipients. Mid-size luxurious vehicles together with the Acura TLX, Lexus ES 350, Lexus IS, Tesla Model 3, Volvo S60 and the Recharge, and Volvo V60 Cross Country had been additionally listed.
Only one giant automobile was awarded an IIHS Pick+ award — the Kia Stinger. Large luxurious automobile recipients embody the Audi A6, Audi A6 Allroad, Audi A7, Genesis G70 (constructed after June 2021), Genesis G80, Genesis G90, Mercedes-Benz E-Class (with non-compulsory entrance crash prevention).
Small SUVs that made the minimize for an IIHS Pick+ award had been the Chevrolet Trailblazer, Ford Bronco Sport, Hyundai Tucson, Mazda CX-5, Mazda CX-30, Mitsubishi Outlander (constructed after June 2021), Nissan Rogue, Volvo C40 Recharge, and Volvo XC40 and Recharge.
IIHS Pick+ awards going to mid-size SUVs included the Ford Explorer, Hyundai Palisade, Hyundai Santa Fe (constructed after July 2021), Mazda CX-9, Nissan Murano, Subaru Ascent, Total Highlander, and Volkswagen ID.4.
The mid-size luxurious SUV class noticed probably the most autos qualify for Pick+ — Acura MDX, Acura RDX, Audi Q5, Audi Q5 Sportback, Cadillac XT6, Genesis GV70, Genesis GV80, Hyundai Next, Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class (with non-compulsory entrance crash prevention), Tesla Model Y, Volvo XC60 and Recharge, Volvo XC90 and Recharge.
Two giant SUVs certified for a Pick+ award from IIHS — the Audi E-Tron and Audi E-Tron Sportback. Three minivans additionally certified, together with the Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Odyssey, and Toyota Sienna.
What To Expect In 2023
This 12 months there have been 101 winners of each the low-tier and high-tier Top Safety Pick awards in comparison with solely 90 final 12 months. The IIHS has additionally made it clear that updates to what qualifies a autos as a Top Safety Pick, or Pick+, have to be up to date.
“A key purpose autos have continued to get safer over the greater than 25 years because the Institute started our rankings program is that we’ve by no means shied away from elevating the bar. The excessive variety of Top Safety Pick+ winners reveals that it’s time to push for extra modifications,” mentioned IIHS President David Harkey.
“New cars should offer strong protection in a crash, but in 2022, that’s the bare minimum,” William Wallace, supervisor of security coverage at Consumer Reports, agreed with Harkey. “It’s vital for cars to also come standard with safety technology that’s effective at preventing a crash in the first place.”
As a consequence, two new evaluations might be added to the standards for 2023: an up to date facet check and a brand new nighttime pedestrian crash check (73% of pedestrian crashes are at night time). IIHS additionally introduced that autos with normal good or acceptable headlights in all trims and packages are the one autos that might be eligible to obtain awards within the headlights class.
“By making standards more demanding over time, IIHS and Consumer Reports push automakers to continually improve vehicle safety, and we give well-deserved accolades to those that step up,” Wallace added.