Mazda, Genesis earn most Top Safety Pick awards

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety wrapped up its safety awards for 2024, adding 19 more new vehicles to its list of Top Safety Pick+ and Top Safety Picks, the IIHS announced Tuesday.

This year, 48 new, redesigned, or refreshed vehicles earned the Top Safety Pick+ designation, considered the industry’s toughest and most coveted safety award. Newly tested entrants include the 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E, 2024-2025 Infiniti QX60, 2025 Mazda CX-70, 2024-2025 Mercedes-Benz C-Class, 2024-2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC, 2025 Rivian R1S, 2025 Subaru Forester, 2025 Toyota Tundra crew cab, and the 2024-2025 Volvo XC90 PHEV. 

There were also nine new entrants to the Top Safety Pick designation, which doesn’t require at least an “Acceptable” rating in the new front overlap test that measures the impact to rear-seat passengers in a head-on crash. Those models are 2024-2025 Audi Q8, 2024-2025 Ford F-150 crew and extended cabs, 2025 Infiniti QX80, 2025 Kia K4, 2024-2025 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, 2025 Nissan Kicks, 2025 Toyota Corolla sedan, and 2025 Toyota Crown Signia. That adds up to 54 Top Safety Pick winners for 2024. 

Genesis, the luxury brand of Hyundai, has earned six TSP+ honors, including the GV80 three-row SUV, the GV60 electric hatchback, G90 full-size sedan, and the G80 sedan. Only the G70 failed to earn a TSP+ or TSP award.  

Mazda earned five 2024 Top Safety Pick+ awards for the Mazda 3 sedan and hatchback, the CX-30 small crossover, the CX-50 compact crossover, the new CX70 midsize crossover, and the CX-90 three-row crossover SUV. Excepting the MX-5 Miata roadster and the aging CX-5, the small Japanese automaker’s lineup outperformed all other brands in earning the most TSP+ awards. 

Subaru and Hyundai also performed well across their lineups. Tweaks to headlights on several models, including the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Infiniti QX60, and Rivian R1S, bumped those models from TSP to TSP+ status. 

Perhaps more noteworthy was those vehicles that missed the cut. The Cadillac Lyriq failed to qualify for its “Poor” headlight rating and the Ford Bronco Sport had only an “Acceptable” side impact rating. 

The annual list of Top Safety Pick+ and Top Safety Pick award winners features nine vehicles from Hyundai, eight from Genesis, 11 from Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus, six from Subaru, and both Rivian vehicles. 

As for segments, crossover SUVs performed well in the revised tests overall, but trucks and sedans faltered. 

“The high number of SUVs that earn awards probably reflects the dominance of those vehicles in the U.S. market,” IIHS President David Harkey said in a statement. “But it’s disappointing that only four pickups and four midsize cars earn awards, considering the popularity of those classes.”

What is a Top Safety Pick and why does it matter?

The nonprofit safety agency funded by the insurance industry ratcheted up the safety criteria again for the third year in a row for the industry’s most esteemed safety awards. 

The IIHS toughens its safety criteria as more automakers’ vehicles come under compliance, making it more dynamic than the five-star NCAP assessment overseen by the NHTSA. In 2022, 101 vehicles earned one of the two 2022 Top Safety Pick awards. The IIHS raised the safety bar last year by changing the side-impact test from a strike barrier weighing 3,300 pounds, as it had been since 2003, to a 4,180-pound barrier. The average weight of an SUV has increased 1,000 pounds to 4,600 pounds in the two decades since the test’s last update, according to the IIHS. At this time last year in 2023, only 48 vehicles qualified for a Top Safety Pick under the new criteria. Headlight ratings also factor into the TSP criteria. 

So far, 91 models qualify, with 53 models awarded a 2024 TSP and 38 qualifying for the tougher TSP+ honor. Working with the IIHS, automakers can tweak design elements such as headlights mid-cycle or even mid-year on redesigned vehicles to earn the award. The 2024 Subaru Solterra is one such example, with headlight changes responsible for it elevating from a TSP to a TSP+. 

The IIHS also tests for advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) such as the efficacy of automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection. To address a spike in pedestrian fatalities, last year the IIHS started testing how ADAS systems can mitigate or avoid collisions with pedestrians in separate daytime and nighttime tests. The revised test for 2024 requires TSP winners to earn “Acceptable” or top “Good” ratings in the combined day and night test, whereas last year served as a trial period in consultation with automakers to adjust systems to attain the ratings.  

In addition, to earn a 2024 TSP+, vehicles had to earn “Good” ratings in the updated side impact test and “Good” or “Acceptable” ratings in the updated moderate overlap front test. 

Both of these tests were revised late in 2022 to study the impact of collisions on rear passengers. The updated front overlap test measures the impact of a crash in the rear passenger seat behind the driver by a child or small woman under 5 feet tall and weighing less than 110 pounds. The focus on front seat safety has improved so much in the past two decades that now rear seat passengers, who were historically safer in front crashes, are now at more of a risk. The IIHS found that front seat passengers in a vehicle rated “Good” in the original front crash test were 46% less likely to die in a head-on crash than those in a vehicle rated “Poor.” It’s hoping for the same results now for rear seat passengers. 

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

Here are the 2024 TSP qualifiers by make and model:

2024 Top Safety Pick+

Cars 

• 2024-2025 Acura Integra
• 2024-2025 Honda Accord
• 2025 Honda Civic sedan
• 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 6
• 2024 Genesis G80
• 2024-2025 Genesis Electrified G80
• 2024 Genesis G90 (built after October 2023)
• 2024-2025 Mazda 3 hatchback
• 2024-2025 Mazda 3 sedan
• 2024-2025 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
• 2025 Toyota Camry
• 2024 Toyota Prius

Crossover SUVs

• 2024-2025 Acura MDX
• 2024-2025 BMW X3
• 2025 BMW X5
• 2024 Ford Explorer
• 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E
• 2024 Genesis GV60
• 2025 Genesis GV70 and Electrified GV70 (built after 2024)
• 2024-2025 Genesis GV80 (built after August 2023)
• 2024-2025 Honda HR-V
• 2025 Honda Pilot
• 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 5
• 2024-2025 Hyundai Kona
• 2024-2025 Hyundai Tucson
• 2024-2025 Infiniti QX60
• 2024 Kia Telluride
• 2024-2025 Lexus NX
• 2024-2025 Lincoln Nautilus
• 2024-2025 Mazda CX-30
• 2024-2025 Mazda CX-50 (built after August 2023)
• 2024-2025 Mazda CX-70 and CX-70 PHEV
• 2024-2025 Mazda CX-90 and CX-90 PHEV
• 2024-2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC Class
• 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLE Class with optional front crash prevention
• 2024-2025 Nissan Pathfinder (built after November 2023)
• 2025 Rivian R1S (built after August 2024)
• 2024 Subaru Ascent
• 2025 Subaru Forester
• 2024 Subaru Solterra
• 2024 Tesla Model Y
• 2024-2025 Volvo XC90 (gas and PHEV)

2024 Top Safety Pick

Cars

• 2024-2025 BMW 5-Series
• 2025 Honda Civic hatchback
• 2024 Hyundai Elantra
• 2024 Hyundai Sonata
• 2024 Kia K4
• 2024-2025 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
• 2025 Mini Countryman
• 2024 Subaru Impreza
• 2024-2025 Subaru Outback
• 2024-2025 Subaru WRX
• 2024 Toyota Camry
• 2025 Toyota Corolla
• 2024 Toyota Crown
• 2024 Toyota Prius Prime

Crossover SUVs

• 2024-2025 Acura RDX
• 2024-2025 Audi Q4 E-Tron
• 2024-2025 Audi Q4 Sportback E-Tron
• 2024-2025 Audi Q7
• 2024-2025 Audi Q8 E-Tron
• 2024-2025 Audi Q8 Sportback E-Tron
• 2024-2025 BMW X1
• 2024-2025 BMW X2
• 2024 Genesis GV70
• 2024-2025 Honda CR-V
• 2024 Honda Pilot
• 2024 Hyundai Palisade
• 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe
• 2025 Infiniti QX80
• 2024-2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee
• 2024-2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee L
• 2024 Jeep Wagoneer
• 2024 Kia EV9 (built after January 2024)
• 2024 Kia Sorento
• 2024-2025 Kia Sportage
• 2024-2025 Lexus NX and Plug-in Hybrid
• 2024 Lexus RX
• 2024 Lexus RZ
• 2024 Lexus UX
• 2024 Nissan Ariya
• 2025 Nissan Kicks
• 2024 Tesla Model Y
• 2025 Toyota Crown Signia
• 2024 Toyota Highlander
• 2024 Volkswagen Atlas
• 2024 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport
• 2024 Volkswagen ID.4

Trucks and minivans

• 2024-2025 Ford F-150 crew and extended cabs
• 2024-2025 Honda Odyssey
• 2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz
• 2024 Toyota Sienna
• 2024 Toyota Tundra crew and extended cabs