These Are America’s Safest Cars

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Feb 25, 8:25AM EST

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These Are America’s Safest Cars — © Courtesy of Tesla

Once a year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Highway Loss Data Institute put out their list of America’s safest cars. Each agency is supported by the insurance industry, and both have roots that go back decades. The IIHS was founded in 1959.

The list is based on measures that have been developed for over a decade. Occasionally, based on evolving car technology, a new factor will be added. Currently, evaluations are based on nine metrics, each added in a different year. These are safety in modest overlap front crashes (1995); side crashes (2003); head restraints and seats (2004); roof (2009); small overlap front, driver’s side (2012); front crash protection, vehicle to vehicle (2013); headlights (2016); small overlap front, passenger-side (2017); and front crash protection, vehicle to pedestrian (2019).

The association’s experts simulate crashes with sophisticated dummies to represent humans. Awards fall into two categories, depending on how each car test rates against the nine metrics. Those will the highest score receive a Top Safety Pick+ award. Those with slightly lower, but strong scores are awarded the Top Safety Pick designation.

This year, a record 90 vehicles received one award or the other, up from 64 last year. Forty-nine received the Top Safety Pick+, more than double last year. Each vehicle awarded falls into one of several categories (see below).
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Commenting on the reason for the tests, IIHS President David Harkey said:

With these awards, we want to make it easy for consumers to find vehicles that provide good protection in crashes, sufficient lighting and effective front crash protection. Manufacturers have stepped up to meet the challenge, and the list of great options has grown to an impressive size this year.

These are the safest cars in America, sorted by category:

2021 Top Safety Pick+

Small Cars

Honda Insight
Mazda 3 sedan
Mazda 3 hatchback
Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid

Midsize Cars

Honda Accord
Kia K5 built after November 2020
Mazda 6
Nissan Altima
Nissan Maxima built after November 2020
Subaru Legacy
Subaru Outback
Toyota Camry

Midsize Luxury Cars

Acura TLX
Lexus ES 350
Lexus IS
Tesla Model 3
Volvo S60
Volvo S60 Recharge
Volvo V60
Volvo V60 Recharge

Large Luxury Cars

Audi A6
Audi A6 allroad
Audi A7
Genesis G70
Genesis G90

Small SUVS

Mazda CX-3
Mazda CX-5
Mazda CX-30 built after September 2020
Nissan Rogue
Subaru Forester
Volvo XC40

Midsize SUVS

Ford Explorer
Hyundai Palisade
Mazda CX-9
Subaru Ascent
Toyota Highlander

Midsize Luxury SUVS

Acura RDX
Cadillac XT6
Hyundai Nexo
Lexus NX
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class with optional front crash prevention
Volvo XC60
Volvo XC60 Recharge
Volvo XC90
Volvo XC90 Recharge

Large SUVS

Audi e-tron
Audi e-tron Sportback

Minivans

Honda Odyssey
Toyota Sienna

Click here to see which cars are most likely to break down.
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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.