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U.S. safety institute gives 90 vehicles Top Safety Pick title for 2021

The IIHS handed out the award liberally to Hyundai and Kia models, but found GM cars lacking

Alex Reid
Feb 25, 2021  •  May 19, 2021  •  1 minute read  •  Join the conversation
2021 Kia Seltos crash test IIHS
Photo by IIHS

The U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is this year awarding 49 new vehicles its coveted Top Safety Pick+ accolade, and also giving another 41 vehicles its more-standard Top Safety Pick award.

The total number of winners for both awards comes to 90 for 2021, compared to just 64 for 2020, suggesting quite a few model-year-2021 vehicles are safer than their predecessors — or at least better at crash testing.

A large reason so many more vehicles received the Top Safety Pick+ award is because of the improvements made in headlight technology. Last year, the IIHS asked manufacturers to make their headlights better, since that one criteria was constantly letting vehicles down in scoring. For 2021, almost all manufacturers responded with better headlights.

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The brand with the most Top Safety Pick+ awards is Hyundai Motor Group, and its Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands. In stark contrast to Hyundai’s safety successes was General Motors, which only managed one Top Safety Pick+ and one Top Safety Pick award, a shortfall the IIHS considers a failure for a brand with too many models to count.

Stellantis managed to pick up a Top Safety Pick award for its Ram 1500 , while the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna qualify for the Top Safety Pick+ award. Mitsubishi is the only manufacturer with no awards.

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