2021 Subaru Ascent Earns Highest IIHS Safety Award

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently named the 2021 Subaru Ascent a Top Safety Pick+ vehicle, the highest award the institute can bestow on a car. That’s an improvement from the 2020 model, which missed out on the plus designation because of its headlights.

Last year’s Ascent earned the IIHS’ Top Safety Pick award, but didn’t qualify for the Top Safety Pick+ award because of its headlights. For the 2020 model year, the IIHS made changes to its criteria for a vehicle to earn its highest award – vehicles have to come with headlights that earn either an “Acceptable” or “Good” rating as standard. The standard halogen headlights on the 2020 Ascent Base and Premium trims earned the lowest rating of “Poor.” So, a Top Safety Pick award was the best the Ascent could achieve.

For the 2021 model year, Subaru made last year’s curve-adaptive LED projector headlights, which earned a rating of “Good,” standard throughout the entire lineup. With ratings of “Good” in all six of the IIHS’ crash tests and a front-crash prevention system that earned a rating of “Superior,” the 2021 Ascent is now a Top Safety Pick+ vehicle.

The 2021 Ascent joins the 2020 Mazda CX-9 as the only non-luxury midsize SUV to earn a Top Safety Pick+ award from the IIHS. The Hyundai Palisade, Kia Sorento, Kia Telluride, Toyota Highlander, Volkswagen Tiguan, Ford Edge, and Hyundai Santa Fe are Top Safety Pick vehicles. The majority of those SUVs come with standard headlights that don’t meet the IIHS’ 2020 criteria to be named a Top Safety Pick+.

Subaru has quite a few Top Safety Pick+ vehicles. The 2020 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid, 2020 Subaru Legacy, 2020 Subaru Outback, and 2020 Subaru Forester all earned the institute’s highest award. The 2020 Subaru Crosstrek, Impreza Sedan and Wagon, and WRX are Top Safety Pick vehicles.

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