Honda and Hyundai distinguished themselves in this year’s field of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Picks.
Four Honda (including Acura) models earned Top Safety Picks or Top Safety Pick+ (TSP+) honors in the small and midsize car categories, more than any other make in those categories. A total of seven Honda vehicle types notched TSP or TSP+ picks across all vehicle categories.
Hyundai (including Genesis) had more models than any other brand that secured the TSP or TSP+ designation across all car categories in 2025, claiming 10 total makes earning one of those IIHS designations.
One of the main criteria that vehicles this year had to pass to be named an IIHS Top Safety Pick was an updated moderate overlap front test. This test simulates a crash between two vehicles traveling in opposite directions at slightly less than 40 miles per hour into a stationary barrier with 40% of the vehicle’s front overlapping.
IIHS updated the test in 2022, by adding a dummy representing a small woman or 12-year-old child sitting in the rear seat behind the driver dummy, and implementing new metrics focusing on the most common injuries for rear-seat occupants, IIHS President David Harkey told Autobody News.
This is the first cycle the standards organization added passage of the updated moderate overlap front test as a requirement for TSP and TSP+ picks, he added.
The distinction between TSP and TSP+ picks exclusively hinged on vehicles’ scores in this test. TSPs earned an “Acceptable” rating on the updated moderate overlap front test, while TSP+ awardees achieved a “Good” rating on the test.
“We did a lot of research to figure out which dummy we were going to put in the rear seat, and which position -- whether it was going to be behind the driver or front-seat passenger,” Harkey said. “Ultimately, we decided on the small female dummy, in part, because that also is about the size of a 12-year-old child.”
Often, backseat occupants are children or smaller adults, including elderly people, Harkey noted. “It’s often where the most vulnerable folks in the vehicle are sitting.”
IIHS Top Safety Picks were named across the small, midsize, midsize luxury, large luxury, small SUV, midsize SUV, midsize luxury SUV, large SUV and large pickup categories.
While Honda notched the most vehicles in the small and midsize car categories, eight of Hyundai’s 10 picks were in the various SUV categories. The manufacturer secured more picks in those buckets than any other carmaker.
To be eligible for either TSP or TSP+ awards, cars still must get a “Good” rating in IIHS’s other crashworthiness tests, including the small overlap and side crash tests, as well as a “Good” or “Acceptable” rating in the pedestrian front crash prevention evaluation in the collision avoidance area, and a “Good” or “Acceptable” rating for headlights, Harkey noted.
Over time, the bar for IIHS’s TSP and TSP+ designations has progressively risen. About 20 years ago, the ratings encompassed crashworthiness scoring, incorporating the moderate overlap test, side crash test and small overlap tests on the driver’s side, passenger side and rollover test, Harkey said.
Now, cars are being tested for automatic emergency braking systems, and front crash prevention systems for vehicle-to-vehicle crashes and vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes.
This has whittled down the field of TSP and TSP+ awardees. IIHS classified 48 makes/models of vehicles as TSP or TSP+ picks in March 2025, 33 fewer than spring 2024, Harkey noted.
IIHS envisions the criteria will strengthen next year. The organization plans to introduce a vehicle-to-bicycle crash in 2026, Harkey said.
Automakers will continue working to catch up to IIHS’s ever-rising standards, as the group plans to test vehicles through October and will add to the current TSP and TSP+ list, Harkey added.
He expressed disappointment that the TSP and TSP+ lists didn’t include any minivans, and included very few pickups/smaller crew cab pickups.
“Those are vehicles that are often bought with the intent of hauling individuals in the rear seat,” Harkey said. “That's an area where we really think that we need to get the auto industry to focus on.”
Brian Bradley