Overview
- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which released the 2026 list Tuesday, named 63 winners—45 Top Safety Pick+ and 18 Top Safety Pick—under newly raised standards.
- Both award tiers now require a good result in the moderate overlap front crash test that gauges rear‑seat protection, and the Plus award adds a higher‑speed vehicle‑to‑vehicle test at 50, 60 and 70 km/h against car, motorcycle and semitrailer targets with qualifying systems standard across all trims.
- SUVs dominated the Top Safety Pick+ field with 35 of 45 winners, while no minivans, minicars or small pickups qualified and only two large pickups earned awards.
- Tesla’s Cybertruck was the only pickup to earn Top Safety Pick+, with recognition applying to trucks built after April 2025 based on Tesla‑submitted crash tests, while Rivian’s R1S earned TSP+ and the R1T missed out after an Acceptable rear‑seat score in the updated moderate overlap test.
- Audi led luxury brands with six TSP+ awards, and several affordable choices made the list as IIHS noted many winners start under $30,000, including the Kia K4 at about $22,290, in a push toward wider access to advanced crash prevention.