4 Cars Earn Top Safety Pick+ Awards From Crash-Test Organization
What Car Shoppers Need to Know
- Only four out of nine model-year 2026 vehicles received Top Safety Pick+ awards in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s latest round of testing.
- All four models received good ratings on everything from front crash prevention to seat belt reminders.
Related: Hands-Free Driving Tech Isn’t as Great as You Might Think
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released its latest crash-test data and shared which vehicles performed best in its crashworthiness and collision avoidance testing. Only four of the nine vehicles tested received the agency’s highest Top Safety Pick+ honor: the Audi A6, BMW X1, Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid.
Audi, BMW, Mazda and Subaru Receive Top Ratings
Vehicle performance in each evaluation is rated on a four-point scale: good, acceptable, marginal and poor. Both the A6 and Crosstrek Hybrid received their awards from scoring good in the vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention test. IIHS notes that the Crosstrek Hybrid is rated separately from the rest of the Crosstrek lineup due to its different structure and restraints.
The X1 received its award after it received a rating of good in the moderate overlap front crash test; the SUV hadn’t undergone this test before. Finally, the CX-5 received its award based on its good ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention and pedestrian crash prevention tests. IIHS says this is a major improvement over the previous CX-5, which received a rating of poor in the vehicle-to-vehicle testing on the 2025 model.
How the Other Vehicles Fared
The other five vehicles tested didn’t score high enough to walk away with the Top Safety Pick+ award, the worst performer being the Cadillac CT5. Out of eight categories, it received poor ratings in half of them, with the only decent rating of acceptable being in the pedestrian crash prevention testing.
Toyota’s Tacoma pickup truck had a marginal rating for the moderate overlap front test and just acceptable ratings for the headlights and Latch ease of use. The Nissan Kicks received marginal ratings in the moderate overlap front and vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention tests.
The Lexus IS wasn’t rated as poorly as some of the other vehicles but received an acceptable rating in one of its front headlight tests and a marginal rating in the moderate overlap front evaluation. The Audi A3 was the only other vehicle here that received a poor rating, but only for its seat belt reminders. It received a marginal rating for the side impact test and acceptable for its headlights.
To see scores of other models, visit IIHS.
|
Model |
IIHS Award |
Small Overlap Front |
Moderate Overlap Front |
Side |
Headlights |
Front Crash Prevention: Vehicle-to-Vehicle |
Front Crash Prevention: Pedestrian |
|
TSP+ |
G |
G |
G |
G/A |
G |
G |
|
|
TSP+ |
G |
G |
G |
G |
A |
G |
|
|
TSP+ |
G |
G |
G |
G/A |
G |
G |
|
|
TSP+ |
G |
G |
G |
G |
G |
G |
|
|
None |
G |
G |
M |
A |
G |
G |
|
|
None |
NT |
P |
P |
M/P |
P |
A |
|
|
None |
NT |
M |
NT |
G/A |
G |
G |
|
|
2026 Nissan Kicks (built before June 2026) |
None |
G |
M |
G |
G |
M |
G |
|
None |
G |
M |
G |
A |
G |
G |
Read More About Vehicle Safety On Cars.com
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- These EVs Missed Out on IIHS Crash-Test Awards
- How Safe Is the 2026 Honda Accord?
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