Safety Alert: Hyundai Builds Vehicles That Protect Drivers and Passengers

Safety on the road and on metro Denver’s increasingly busy streets matters. So Colorado drivers should be happy to know that eight 2022 Hyundai vehicles won Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). 

The IIHS is an independent agency that conducts crash tests on vehicles and rates them for how well they perform. They are one of the best ways consumers have of knowing that the vehicles they’re buying will protect them from harm.

Hyundai earned its reputation for safe vehicles: Over the past eight years, Hyundais with optional front crash prevention and specific headlights have won more IIHS safety awards than vehicles produced by Toyota, Honda, Nissan, or Subaru. 

Hyundai’s 2022 winners: 

• Small Car: Hyundai Elantra Sedan with specific headlights – Top Safety Pick
• Midsize Car: Hyundai Sonata Sedan with specific headlights – Top Safety Pick
• Small SUV: Hyundai Tucson SUV – Top Safety Pick+
• Small SUV: Hyundai Venue SUV – Top Safety Pick
• Midsize SUV: Hyundai Palisade SUV – Top Safety Pick+
• Midsize SUV: Hyundai Santa Fe SUV (built after July 2021) – Top Safety Pick+
• Midsize Luxury SUV: Hyundai NEXO SUV – Top Safety Pick+
• Small Pickup: Hyundai Santa Cruz Crew Cab Pickup with specific headlights – Top Safety Pick

Understanding what differentiates a Top Safety Pick from a Top Safety Pick+ may seem rather bewildering but it hinges on the headlight scores and whether the headlights are standard equipment or available (optional).

• Top Safety Pick+ winners must score “Good” on these crash tests:
  • Driver-side small overlap front
  • Passenger-side small overlap front
  • Moderate overlap front
  • Original Side
  • Roof strength
  • Head restraints

In addition, they must score “Advanced” or “Superior” on available front crash prevention, both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian. And they must score “Acceptable” or “Good” on the headlights that are standard equipment. 

• Top Safety Pick winner must achieve all of the same ratings as Top Safety Pick+ winners. The headlights, however, must be available, not offered as standard.

Vehicles with good or acceptable headlight ratings are involved in significantly fewer nighttime single-vehicle crashes than those rated less highly.

Furthering its work to increase safety innovation, Hyundai recently announced a new Safety Test and Investigation Laboratory plus some child passenger educational safety efforts.