Which Used Cars Have the Best Crash-Test Scores?

If you want an affordable used car, the safest choices aren’t necessarily out of the question. Manufacturers are serious about making the safest vehicles possible, and safety no longer has to come at a steep price. There are options for affordable vehicles with excellent highway safety ratings.

Related: These 71 Cars Earned IIHS Top Safety Pick Awards Amid Tougher Criteria

Cars.com analyzed Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash-test results for hundreds of models to find some diamonds in the used-car rough. Our criteria:

• Eligible vehicles must be model-year 2016 or older models.
• They need good results in IIHS’ driver-side small overlap front test, moderate overlap front test, side-impact test, roof-strength test and head restraint/seating evaluation. (IIHS scores are good, acceptable, marginal or poor.)
• They cannot have any missing scores among those five main tests. Frontal crash tests have also been updated over the years, and while certain models were retested, we only considered the original crash-test versions’ scores in our data.
• They must have a standard electronic stability system, which includes antilock brakes and traction control. Stability systems have been required since 2012, but many of the safest vehicles had them before that.

Want a safe, affordable used vehicle? We found numerous models that meet those criteria, but here are five of the safest and least expensive options.

2005-14 Volvo XC90

The first generation of Volvo’s three-row luxury SUV debuted as a 2003 model but lacked side-impact scores until 2005. Still, its safety record demonstrates years of forward thinking, with a standard anti-rollover stability system and excellent crash-test scores despite arriving a decade before IIHS released its small overlap test. That’s because Volvo “had researched small overlap crashes and began building their vehicles to withstand them long before our test was introduced,” IIHS spokesman Russ Rader told us.

Pricing: Median prices for the first-gen XC90 on Cars.com are as low as $2,422 for a 2007 model, with median prices less than $7,500 for model-year 2005-12 XC90s. Newer XC90s run up in price, however: Median prices for 2013 and 2014 models are $15,990 and $12,995, respectively.

2007-16 Volvo S80

Redesigned for the 2007 model year, Volvo’s flagship sedan had sleek styling and a handsome, executive-class cabin. It’s aged well, inside and out. Available all-wheel drive made the sedan a practical choice in cold-weather states, and if the base inline-six-cylinder was too poky, the vehicle offered an available V-8 or, later, a punchy turbo six that was just as quick. Besides excellent crash-test ratings — it was an IIHS Top Safety Pick from 2007 to 2013 then a Top Safety Pick+ from 2014 until 2016 — the S80 had safety features well ahead of other mass-market models, including forward collision warning and blind spot warning systems.

Pricing: On Cars.com, the median prices for used 2007 and 2008 S80s were $5,800 and $5,700, respectively. If you’d like to broaden that search to include 151 S80s across all 10 model years with outstanding safety scores, that median price is a still-reasonable $8,989.

2016 Hyundai Sonata

If you have a bit more cash to spend upfront but want to save on fuel later, why not consider a hybrid? The Hyundai Sonata doesn’t just get excellent scores when in IIHS crash tests, it also offers hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions that nearly double its fuel economy over the base model. The gas-powered Sonata gets anywhere from 21 mpg to 31 mpg combined, while the Sonata Hybrid gets up to 41 mpg combined. If you can find the even more frugal Sonata Plug-In Hybrid, you can go 27 miles on electric power only before needing its 40-mpg gas engine. The 2016 Sonata also won IIHS’ highest Top Safety Pick+ award, but that only applies to vehicles built after October 2015 with optional front crash prevention.

Pricing: The median price of the 2016 Sonata (including the hybrids) is $11,995 on Cars.com, with the median prices for the Sonata Hybrid and Sonata Plug-In Hybrid ringing in at $13,748 and $15,882, respectively.

2011-16 Mini Countryman

If you’re looking for a small SUV, consider the maxi-Mini: the Countryman. The first-generation Countryman was called the Cooper Countryman for its first two model years, but it’s really its own model. Going big didn’t mute the fun too much, as the Countryman packs a peppy turbocharged engine and decent handling on top of its stellar safety ratings. As with the regular Mini Cooper, the Countryman came with a more premium feel than many compact SUVs on the market as well as a long list of possible options, including a manual transmission and AWD.

Pricing: The 2011 Cooper Countryman has a median price of $7,998 on Cars.com, but the entire first generation now goes for less than half of the 2011’s original $22,350 base price. Even the 2016 Countryman that served as the first gen’s swansong rings in at just $13,498.

2015-16 Kia Sedona

If you need a bit more room for family and friends, the Kia Sedona proves that you don’t have to compromise on crash-test ratings to get a spacious minivan. It offers three roomy rows of seating for up to seven or eight passengers, a 276-horsepower V-6 engine and clever storage bins throughout the cabin. You can also find Sedonas equipped with useful options like 360-degree cameras and an automatic liftgate alongside fun ones like second-row captain’s chairs that feature pop-out leg rests.

Pricing: The median prices of 2015 and 2016 Sedonas are $10,999 and $12,095, respectively.

Why Older Cars Crash Worse and Have Less Safety

Six or more airbags have been the norm for most of the current millennium, but many older cars still fail newer crash tests because their structures weren’t designed for them. Take IIHS’ driver-side small overlap frontal test, which was introduced in 2012. The test simulates hitting a narrow object from the front-left side. Upon introduction, it exposed a lot of models for having spotty protection. Many models improved shortly thereafter to withstand this test.

While the lack of updated crash-test results can be concerning for budget shoppers — especially parents trying to hunt down a back-to-school car with good safety ratings — a number of older cars still carry the full range of safety scores. IIHS applies its latest scores retroactively to older cars from the same generation unless the vehicle had structural changes. For example, a 2008-13 model tested for driver-side small overlap crashworthiness in 2013 would carry those scores over to the 2008-12 models.

Most older models have mixed test results, but the ones we highlighted have fared well across the board. The XC90 even boasts excellent scores going back as far as 19 years.

Editor’s Notes

Used-car pricing is from October 2024. We did not grade for Latch anchor child-safety seat scores, as those were only introduced in 2015 and aren’t applied to earlier model years because automakers change Latch designs between vehicle redesigns, according to Rader. We also did not require cars to have the frontal crash prevention systems required by IIHS for its highest Top Safety Pick+ designation, as such technology has been rare or an extra-cost option until recent years.

Used examples of some models may be hard to come by. We tried to highlight examples that had more availability in this list, as some others that met our criteria had mere double digits in inventory — if that. When choosing a cost-efficient electrified car to feature, we considered the model-year 2015-16 Kia Soul EV (median price on Cars.com: $9,753), but the Soul’s all-electric version was only sold in select states and thus only 71 Soul EVs from these years are even listed on Cars.com. The S80 squeaked by with 151 listings on Cars.com through the sheer number of years it met our criteria. You can always expand your search to newer cars of the same generation as your budget allows; their crash-test ratings are usually the same.

That being said, Rader noted that there could be “some newer models that cost less than the older luxury models” here. He’s right. If you can afford a newer car, it’s worth considering given that they have to conform to newer crash tests and safety standards that typically make them a bit safer than their older counterparts. These late-model used vehicles have standard stability systems and acceptable or good scores for crash safety, including updated crash tests but excluding the Latch tests and headlight scores:

• 2018-20 Hyundai Elantra GT
• 2016-19 Chevrolet Volt
• 2014-20 Mitsubishi Outlander
• 2017-20 Kia Cadenza
• 2014-20 Nissan Rogue

We also didn’t factor in crash-test scores from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because NHTSA overhauled them beginning with the 2011 model year. That left us ratings derived from the agency’s earlier tests. According to a NHTSA spokesperson, its tests and ranking methodology are different enough from its older tests that the agency will not apply its 2011 or newer scores to earlier model years from the same generation of a given car, as IIHS does.

More From Cars.com:

• IIHS, Consumer Reports: Automakers Have Met Automatic Emergency Braking Commitment
• IIHS Study Says Partial Automation May Not Prevent Crashes
• New IIHS Crash-Prevention Test Shows Gaps in Active Safety for Small SUVs
• Which Cars Under $40,000 Have Earned IIHS Top Safety Pick and NHTSA 5-Star Awards?
• Small Cars Yield Surprising Results in Updated Crash Tests
• IIHS: Backseat-Passenger Safety Lacking in Some Mid-Size SUVs

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