The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has given 11 small vehicles its Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ designations this year.
To qualify for either award, vehicles need to earn good ratings in the small overlap front and updated side tests, an acceptable or good rating in the pedestrian front crash prevention evaluation and acceptable or good ratings for headlights across all trim levels. To earn the Top Safety Pick+ designation, a vehicle must also earn a good or acceptable rating in the updated moderate overlap front test.
This year, a total of 38 vehicles earned the Top Safety Pick+ award and 53 were awarded a Top Safety Pick nod.
While these awards identify the best vehicle choices for safety within size categories, the IIHS notes that larger, heavier vehicles tend to afford more protection than smaller, lighter ones. A small car that qualifies for an award might not protect its occupants as well as a bigger vehicle without an award.
“The part of the vehicle between the front bumper and the occupant compartment absorbs energy from crashes by crumpling,” the IIHS said on its website. “As a result, longer front ends offer better protection in frontal crashes. Heavier vehicles also tend to continue moving forward in crashes with lighter vehicles and other obstacles, so the people inside them are subject to less force.”
However, large vehicles aren’t as big a threat to smaller vehicles as they used to be. In recent years, automakers have lowered the energy-absorbing structures of SUVs and pickups so they line up with those in cars.
The slideshow above highlights the small cars that received a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ designation from IIHS this year.
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