With 2019 right around the corner, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has changed the requirements for a vehicle to earn its Top Safety Pick Plus or Top Safety Pick ratings. When it comes to the revised Top Safety Pick ratings, Hyundai led the way with six vehicles, while Subaru led the way forward with seven vehicles that were named as a Top Safety Pick Plus.
For the new year, the IIHS now requires vehicles to earn a rating of “Good” in the passenger-side small overlap front test, in addition to meeting all of the previous requirements, to be named a Top Safety Pick Plus. Top Safety Pick vehicles must earn a rating of either “Acceptable” or “Good” in the passenger-side test. This is the sixth time the institute has changed its requirements.
The seven Subaru models that were named a 2019 Top Safety Pick Plus include the Ascent, Crosstrek, Impreza, Legacy, Outback, and WRX. Besides Subaru, South Korean brands like Kia, Genesis, and Hyundai impressed. Kia had five vehicles that were named as Top Safety Pick Plus cars. Those include the Forte, Niro (both the hybrid and plug-in hybrid), Optima, and Sorento. The Genesis G70, G80, and G90 earned the designation, as did the Hyundai Sonata, Kona, Elantra, and Santa Fe.
Hyundai continued to impress with the most vehicles to be named as Top Safety Picks. The Accent, Elantra GT, Ioniq Hybrid, Ioniq Plug-In Hybrid, Tucson, and Santa Fe XL all nabbed the award. Kia had three vehicles to be named Top Safety Picks with the Rio, Cadenza, and Soul. Other vehicles to earn the rating include the Nissan Kicks, Subaru Forester, Nissan Altima, Chrysler Pacifica, and BMW X2.
It's not hard to see that American brands are glaringly missing from the list. Ford, Ram, Jeep, Dodge, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Tesla all failed to have vehicles that qualified for either award. Volvo, which makes some of the safest vehicles on the market, doesn't have any vehicles on the list because it doesn't have any results for the passenger-side small overlap front test.