The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently crash-tested 11 vehicles for model year 2025. Of those, only three models earned the agency’s highest honor, the Top Safety Pick+, while one more secured the second-tier Top Safety Pick designation.
Top Safety Pick+ winners
The Audi Q6 e-Tron successfully outperformed its competitors by earning top marks in every crash test and safety evaluation.
Buick Enclave narrowly missed a perfect score due to an “acceptable” rating on the pedestrian-avoidance test. However, the award applies to Enclave models built after January 2025, when improved headlights were introduced.
The Nissan Armada performed well and earned top scores across all categories except for an “acceptable” headlight rating, which prevented it from achieving a perfect score.
Top Safety Pick winner
The GMC Acadia received the second-tier award, due to achieving “acceptable” ratings in the pedestrian-avoidance test and the updated moderate overlap front crash test. Like the Buick Enclave, the award only applied to vehicles built after January 2025 due to headlight improvements.
Other competitors
The other vehicles that competed but failed to earn recognition were the Audi Q6 Sportback e-Tron, Cadillac Lyriq, Kia K4, Nissan Kicks, Nissan Rogue, Nissan Sentra and Toyota Tacoma.
The Cadillac Lyriq was perfectly poised to earn the Top Safety Pick+ award. However, its headlights received a “poor” rating, knocking it out of the running.
How the IIHS rates vehicles
The IIHS tests two critical aspects of vehicle safety: crashworthiness, which measures how well a vehicle can protect its occupants, and crash avoidance and mitigation, or the vehicle’s technology to prevent or lessen the severity of a potential crash.
Vehicles are subject to eight tests, and the ratings are poor, marginal, acceptable or good.
For vehicles to qualify for awards, they must score:
- “Good” in small overlap and side-impact tests
- At least “acceptable” in headlight and pedestrian crash prevention evaluations
The key difference between the Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards is that the latter requires a “good” rating in the updated moderate overlap test, which evaluates rear-seat passenger protection.
