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By Jake Lingeman

Managing Editor

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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has been crash testing vehicles for decades, pushing automakers to make them safer not just for all occupants, but pedestrians and occupants of other vehicles as well.

The organization was founded in 1959 by three major insurance associations that represented 80 percent of the U.S. auto insurance market at the time.

Now, in addition to the Top Safety Pick each year, IIHS also gives out Top Safety Pick+ awards signaling the safest cars and SUVs on the road.

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For 2024, 71 cars and SUVs qualified for Top Safety Pick and only 22 received the Top Safety Pick+ designation.

No pickup truck garnered a "plus" rating this year though several were listed as Top Picks by the organization.

"We followed the tougher requirements we introduced last year with another major update to the award criteria in 2024," said IIHS President David Harkey said in a press release. "This year's winners are true standouts, offering the highest level of protection for both vehicle occupants and other vulnerable road users."

"The high number of SUVs that earn awards probably reflects the dominance of those vehicles in the U.S. market. But it's disappointing that only four pickups and four midsize cars earn awards, considering the popularity of those classes."

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Hyundai Motor Group has the most 2024 awards with six Top Safety Pick+ awards and 10 Top awards. Toyota is next with one "plus" award and 12 Top Safety Pick awards.

2024 IIHS Top Safety Pick+ Award Winners

• Acura Integra
• Mazda 3 hatchback
• Mazda 3 sedan
• Honda Accord
• Hyundai Ioniq 6
• Genesis Electrified G80
• Genesis GV60
• Honda HR-V
• Hyundai Kona
• Mazda CX-30
• Mazda CX-50
• Ford Explorer
• Kia Telluride
• Mazda CX-90
• Nissan Pathfinder
• Subaru Ascent
• Acura MDX
• BMW X3
• Genesis GV80
• Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class
• Tesla Model Y

Changes to Testing in 2024

Last year's side crash test was replaced with an updated version that uses a heavier barrier traveling at a higher speed. Acceptable or good rating used to be enough to get a Top Safety Pick. In 2024, a good rating is required. Additionally, vehicles now need an acceptable or good rating in a revised version of the pedestrian front crash prevention evaluation to qualify for either award. The new test combines the daytime and nighttime test.

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Another change, a new moderate front overlap test has replaced the previous evaluation. Vehicles now need an acceptable or good rating in the test that adds a second dummy seated behind the driver. To earn either award, a vehicle must offer good protection in a small overlap front crash which has also been changed. Award winners also must have good or acceptable headlights equipped on all trim levels.

IIHS makes the tests more stringent almost every year, excepting a few during the pandemic, and plans to make them more challenging again for 2025, a representative told Newsweek.

The moving target seems to be working. An analysis of 14 years' worth of crash data shows that a driver of a model rated good in the original moderate overlap test is 46 percent less likely to die in a head-on crash with a similar vehicle, compared with a driver of a model rated poor, according to the organization. In 2019, when it launched the new daytime vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluation, only 21 percent of the vehicles tested earned the highest rating. That grew to 59 percent in 2023.

"There's still progress to be made in the protection that vehicles provide for their occupants," Harkey said. "But many of the biggest gains will come from automakers and policymakers, along with all of us, taking steps to protect everyone on the road, not just our own families."

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