More vehicles earn IIHS' top safety award as headlights improve

WASHINGTON — The number of vehicles earning the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's highest safety honor grew for 2022 models as better headlights and front-crash prevention become standard offerings.

Sixty-five models received the Top Safety Pick+ award this year, compared with 49 models at this point in 2021. Another 36 models earned the Top Safety Pick designation, compared with 41 a year earlier, according to the institute's initial list of 2022 model award winners.

The IIHS, an insurer-funded group, said it will continue to test models throughout the year and likely will add to the list of winners.

"Manufacturers deserve congratulations for the steady improvements they've made since we last updated our award requirements, but with U.S. traffic fatalities expected to exceed 40,000 people in 2021, it's no time for anybody to rest on their laurels," IIHS President David Harkey said in a statement.

To qualify for a Top Safety Pick award, vehicles must have "good" ratings in all six of the institute's crashworthiness tests. Vehicles also must be available with "good" or "acceptable" headlights and have front crash prevention that the institute considers "superior" or "advanced."

The Top Safety Pick+ is awarded to models that meet those requirements and also have "good" or "acceptable" headlights as standard across all trim levels and packages.

Vehicles from Hyundai, Volkswagen and Volvo received the most awards so far this year, according to the institute's list.

Hyundai Motor Group — the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands — earned 11 Top Safety Pick+ and 10 Top Safety Pick awards.

Volkswagen Group, which includes Audi, followed Hyundai in total awards received, earning eight Top Safety Pick+ and three Top Safety Pick awards.

Volvo earned 10 Top Safety Pick+ awards.

Thirty-four models classified by the institute as SUVs — including the Ford Bronco Sport, VW ID4 and Tesla Model Y — earned Top Safety Pick+ awards. Twenty SUVs — including the Buick Encore GX, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Lexus RX — earned Top Safety Pick awards.

Four pickup trucks — the Hyundai Santa Cruz, Ram 1500 crew cab, Ford F-150 crew cab and extended cab — earned Top Safety Pick awards.

Three minivans — the Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna — earned Top Safety Pick+ awards. The Kia Carnival minivan earned a Top Safety Pick.

The IIHS has been using the two-tier award system since 2013 as a way to phase in tougher requirements. For example, it added headlight ratings to its award criteria in 2017 and later started requiring the "good" or "acceptable" ratings for the Top Safety Pick+ award.

"Good" or "acceptable" headlights are standard across all trims for the 65 recipients of the Top Safety Pick+ award, with 31 of those models exclusively equipped with good-rated headlights, the institute said.

In addition to offering improved headlights, automakers this year made vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention standard on more models.

While automatic emergency braking does not have to come standard on vehicles to qualify for either award, automakers have pledged to do so for nearly all light-duty vehicles starting in September, the institute said.

By 2024, the U.S. Department of Transportation's NHTSA expects to initiate a rule-making to mandate automatic emergency braking and pedestrian automatic emergency braking on new passenger vehicles — a requirement in the infrastructure law passed by Congress last year.

Automakers can expect changes and toughening award criteria for 2023.

Only vehicles that come with standard "good" or "acceptable" headlights across all trim levels and packages will be eligible for either award.

In addition, the institute is replacing its original side crash test with a tougher version that uses a heavier, movable barrier traveling at a higher speed to simulate the striking vehicle. Models must have a "good" or "acceptable" rating to earn the Top Safety Pick award. To earn the "plus," models must have a "good" rating.

The IIHS also is adding a nighttime pedestrian crash prevention test. The new test will not be part of the criteria for Top Safety Pick, the institute said, but vehicles will need to have "superior" or "advanced" ratings to qualify for Top Safety Pick+.

"We definitely expect to see fewer vehicles qualifying for 2023 Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ awards with the addition of two new tests to the criteria next year," IIHS spokesman Joe Young told Automotive News. "With only one test group complete so far in the updated side crash test and official testing yet to begin in our new nighttime AEB test scenarios, it's too early to say how big a decline in the initial winner count we can expect."

Young said the 2023 Top Safety Pick+ award will be "particularly challenging" for automakers, since it will require them to earn high marks in both of the new tests.

"As a result, we may see some vehicles slip to the lower-tier Top Safety Pick rather than losing award status altogether," he said.

Young also expects headlights continuing to play big role next year. Vehicles earning the 2022 Top Safety Pick award will need to address any headlight shortcomings to be eligible for either award in 2023, he noted.

Harkey said the gradually toughening requirements have led to safer vehicles.

"A key reason vehicles have continued to get safer over the more than 25 years since the institute began our ratings program is that we have never shied away from raising the bar," Harkey said. "The high number of Top Safety Pick+ winners shows that it's time to push for additional changes."