Honda and Hyundai perform well during particularly tough 2025 IIHS tests
Honda and Hyundai have shone the brightest during this year’s Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Pick (TSP) awards with 17 designations. These 17 awards, spanning small, midsize, large, luxury, small SUV, midsize SUV, and midsize luxury SUV categories, include Honda’s and Hyundai’s subsidiaries, Acura and Genesis, respectively. These IIHS accolades, which are considered the gold standard of vehicle safety awards, are categorized with a TSP or Top Safety Pick+ (TSP+) label. Hyundai, including Genesis, had the most TSP and TSP+ designations across all vehicle categories at 10, while Honda remained competitive at seven. Still, Honda scored more TSP and TSP+ wins in small and midsize vehicle categories than any automaker.
Hyundai
The changing standards of the IIHS
The list of recognitions for Honda and Hyundai is especially significant given that fewer cars and trucks earned IIHS awards due to heightened emphasis on second-row safety. A particularly challenging hurdle for automakers was the IIHS’s redesigned moderate overlap front test, which now includes a second crash dummy in the back seat, according to Consumer Reports. The IIHS revised their testing after finding a higher risk of fatal injury for adults wearing seatbelts in the rear row. So far, 48 vehicles have qualified as IIHS TSPs, which is 33 fewer than this time last year. Only 12 of these 48 models achieved the peak TSP+ rating. The IIHS used a crash dummy around the size of a 12-year-old child since children under 13 are more likely to occupy the second row.
“We did a lot of research to figure out which dummy we were going to put in the rear seat, and which position—whether it was going to be behind the driver or front-seat passenger. Ultimately, we decided on the small female dummy, in part, because that also is about the size of a 12-year-old child,” IIHS President David Harkey told Autobody News.
Some notable picks
The IIHS named the Acura Integra and Honda Civic as Top Safety Picks in the small car category, while the hatchback Civic received a TSP+ nod. The Honda Accord and Hyundai Ioniq 6 received TSP+ awards in the midsize car tier, and Genesis’ G90 received a large luxury car TSP. The Genesis GV60, Honda HR-V, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Kona, and Hyundai Tuscon were all TSP+ selections in the small SUV category. For midsize SUVs, Honda’s Pilot received a TSP, and Hyundai’s Santa Fe received a TSP+ designation. The last category where Honda and Hyundai, including its subsidiaries, scored high IIHS marks was the luxury midsize SUV category, where the Acura MDX received a TSP and the Genesis gas/electric GV70 models achieved TSP+.
Honda
CarEdge highlighted how consumers often tie safety in with reliability, but many 2025 models with IIHS awards are tied to questionable Consumer Reports reliability data. Vehicles named IIHS TSPs for the 2025 production year with lower reliability scores on Consumer Reports include Rivian’s R1S, Mazda’s CX-90 PHEV (Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle), and Mazda’s CX-70 PHEV. However, drivers can get some peace of mind knowing that 3.46 million vehicles were recalled in Q1 2025 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the lowest quarterly amount in over a decade and a steep drop from last year’s 6.58 million in Q4.
Final thoughts
Drivers shopping for a new car could benefit from looking for vehicles with IIHS or NHTSA awards, but they should place equal emphasis on reliability assessments through reading real-world owner feedback. If a car you’re considering has some reported reliability issues, assess how much maintenance and repair costs will run you to see whether the driving experience aligns with your budget.