Categories: Cars

2025 Top Safety Cars: IIHS Best Picks

More rigorous crash-test standards by the IIHS emphasize back-seat safety
Mazda continues to excel with Top Safety Pick+ awards on nearly all its models
The IIHS keeps intensifying crash-test standards as more automakers come in compliance

Back seat drivers should benefit from front seat safety, based on the latest safety criteria established by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Automakers have been challenged to increase safety for rear seat passengers to earn a 2025 Top Safety Pick award, the list of which was announced Thursday.

Mazda once again earned a Top Safety Pick+ (TSP+) for nearly every one of its vehicles, making it one of the safest car brands, and Genesis, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz also performed well. The emphasis on rear-seat safety has excluded many automakers known for safety, for now, and the tougher standards exceeded the capabilities of vehicles made for families, such as minivans.

“We’re once again challenging automakers to make their new models even safer than those they were building a year ago,” IIHS President David Harkey said in a statement. “Every vehicle that earns a 2025 award offers a high level of safety in both the front seat and the second row.”

The tougher criteria results in only 48 vehicles earning either 2025 Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ award, down from 71 models at the same time last year.

The risk of fatalities is higher for belted occupants in the rear than those in the front, according to the IIHS. In recent years, safety standards lagged in the rear seat as automakers focused on crumple zones and other crash protection measures for drivers and front passengers. For 2025, a vehicle must earn a top “Good” rating in the front overlap test, which simulates a car hitting another car of equal size head-on at 40 mph with 40% of the cars’ front ends overlapping. The test now has a crash dummy under 5-feet tall and weighing less than 110 pounds belted into the seat behind the driver.

What is a Top Safety Pick?

But what is a Top Safety Pick and why does it matter? The Top Safety Pick (TSP) and higher Top Safety Pick+ (TSP+) awards are coveted by automakers—and their marketing teams—as they show a vehicle complies with the most rigorous independent crash-testing in the U.S. The IIHS also tests the efficacy of headlights and driver-assist systems such as automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection.

The NHTSA’s NCAP five-star rating system currently does not evaluate driver-assist technology, making the IIHS a more comprehensive and up-to-date safety tester. Thus, agencies, automakers, and automotive outlets ranging from the National Safety Council to Consumer Reports and The Car Connection deem Top Safety Pick awards as mattering more than the NHTSA’s limited testing.

The IIHS operates independently of its funding by the automotive insurance industry and is complimentary to NCAP testing. Every year or two it raises the safety bar as more automakers develop vehicles that meet the IIHS criteria.

In 2022, the IIHS raised the weight of the side-impact strike barrier from 3,300 pounds to 4,180 pounds to reflect the proliferation of heavier, taller SUVs on roadways since that test was launched back in 2003. Only 48 vehicles qualified for a 2023 TSP instead of 101 from the previous year. Headlights also came in the spotlight because of a spike in pedestrian fatalities at night.

In 2023, in consultation with automakers, the IIHS started testing how ADAS systems can mitigate or avoid collisions with pedestrians in separate daytime and nighttime tests. The revised test for 2024 required TSP winners to earn “Acceptable” or top “Good” ratings in the combined day and night test. The IIHS typically introduces a new test but doesn’t apply it to TSP awards until the following year, providing automakers time to adjust systems to attain the ratings.

In addition, to earn a 2024 TSP+, vehicles had to earn “Good” ratings in the updated side impact test and “Good” or “Acceptable” ratings in the updated moderate overlap front test. Now, for 2025, the vehicles have to earn the top “Good” award in both tests for a TSP+.

The original test that measured only front seat safety has been phased out. Additionally for 2025, vehicles must also earn “Good” ratings in the small overlap front and updated side crash tests. Furthermore, the automatic emergency braking systems must earn “Acceptable” or “Good” marks for avoiding hitting pedestrians in both daytime and nighttime conditions, and headlights on all trims must earn “Acceptable” or “Good” marks.

Surprisingly, no minivans hit the mark so far this year, and only two trucks qualified.

“The new emphasis on back seat protection appears to have winnowed minivans and pickups from the winners’ ranks,” Harkey said. “That’s unfortunate, considering that minivans are marketed as family haulers and extended cab and crew cab pickups are often used for that purpose.”

It’s worth noting that the IIHS affirmed that the second row is still the safest seat for children under 13.

Check out the list of winners below.

2025 Top Safety Pick+ award