2023 Honda Accord Crash-Test Results Improve, Net IIHS Top Safety Pick+
The 2023 Honda Accord received important safety updates in its latest redesign, and the improvements have paid dividends in the form of a Top Safety Pick+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Accord checks all the boxes for the agency’s stricter award eligibility criteria in 2023. These include an updated side-impact crash test, new headlight requirements and a new nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention test.
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Curing the Side Stitch
The previous-generation 2022 Accord was also named an IIHS Top Safety Pick+, but that was prior to the agency’s new side-impact test being implemented. The outgoing Accord struggled in the tougher test, earning a marginal rating after allowing some intrusion into the occupant compartment and showing an increased injury risk to the driver’s pelvis and head.
For a vehicle to be named a Top Safety Pick, it must get an acceptable rating in the side-impact crash test (a good rating is required for the TSP+ designation). According to Honda, the 2023 Accord gets new airbag technology and an enhanced body structure that enables it to hold up against the heavier barrier used in the crash test; the efforts paid off, and the Accord secured a good rating.
Headlights, Driver-Assist Features Make the Grade
In addition to the new side-impact crash test, IIHS tightened its headlight and front crash prevention system standards for 2023. Acceptable or good headlights across all of a vehicle’s trims are now a requirement for either award, and an advanced or superior rating is required in a new nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention test for the Top Safety Pick+ designation — the Top Safety Pick award only requires an advanced or superior rating in a daytime front crash prevention test. All of the Accord’s trim levels offer good-rated LED reflector headlights, and the sedan scored an advanced rating for the nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention test.
Upgraded Safety Tech
For 2023, the Accord’s standard Honda Sensing system is updated with a wider camera and radar view to better prevent collisions with vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, according to the automaker. Other updates include a longer range for its blind spot monitor and a newly available Traffic Jam Assist that allows adaptive cruise control and lane centering to work down to a stop at speeds below 45 mph.
The Competition
The 2023 Accord joins two other mid-size cars, the 2023 Subaru Outback and 2023 Toyota Camry, in earning a Top Safety Pick+ award under the new criteria. The 2023 Hyundai Sonata and 2023 Subaru Legacy were named Top Safety Picks.
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