Three electric car models have been announced as winners of the top crash safety award.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has recognized three new electric vehicles with the top award, the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award.
IIHS is one of the main automotive safety rating organizations in the US, along with NHTSA. While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is a government agency, IIHS is a private organization funded by insurance companies. Europe has its own rating organization, Euro NCAP.
HIGHEST SCORE IN ALL TESTS
The IIHS and NHTSA ratings have similar goals, but the organizations use different test procedures and sometimes reach different conclusions. The IIHS views its work as complementary to NHTSA’s and supplements the government agency’s five-star rating system with additional crash test information. The IIHS tells consumers to look for 4+ stars in government tests and a “good” or “Top Safety Pick” recommendation from them.
The Top Safety Pick award requires the vehicle to achieve the highest score in all six of IIHS’ crash tests.
Pedestrian safety has become particularly important in recent years as the shift to larger vehicles has resulted in a sharp increase in pedestrian fatalities.
DETAILS REVEALED
The three electric vehicles that won the award were the 2023 models of the Hyundai Ioniq 6, Lexus RZ and Genesis Electrified GV70.
All three vehicles met the high standards of the IIHS and thus achieved Top Safety Pick+ ratings. In particular, the Electrified GV70 earned “advanced” ratings in both daytime and nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian frontal crash prevention evaluations. The Ioniq 6 and Lexus RZ earned “superior” ratings in these two tests. Meanwhile, the GV70 headlights received a “good” rating, while the Ioniq 6 and RZ were described as having “acceptable” headlights.
