The safest SUVs of 2017 are an impressive lot. Every year, IIHS looks at every vehicle built for the North American market. They rank vehicles based on their ability to protect occupants in a collision, their ability to avoid a collision, down to the headlights’ function of illuminating the road ahead.
SUVs are ever increasing in popularity right now, especially among families. So, it’s just natural that they’ve been rated based on the safety aspect by the IIHS. Top performers have been assigned either the Top Safety Pick rating, or the highest rating of Top Safety Pick +.
These are just 10 of the SUVs that made the list.
This is the second year running that the Mazda CX-3 has been a Top Safety Pick +. All around, it’s a great-looking SUV and one of the more enjoyable small SUVs to drive. Not to mention a very fuel efficient SUV. It operates like a sports sedan mostly, but has the space you want in an SUV.
That extra space is probably what makes its crash rating so good. However, in order for the CX-3 to receive the Top Safety Pick + rating, it must have the LED projector headlights. Its standard halogen headlights don’t do the trick.
The Nissan Rogue isn’t often thought to be a contender for much. That said, it’s a pretty amazing vehicle for the price. The 2017 Nissan Rogue has a flexible price range, and it’s the upper echelon that gets the Top Safety Pick + rating.
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Only the Rogue equipped with Forward Emergency Braking and the Premium package LED headlights gets top marks.
It’s no big surprise that the Toyota RAV4 is awarded Top Safety Pick +. The RAV4 has standard Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, a contributing factor towards its exceptional crash ratings.
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What’s a little surprising, though, is that the standard headlights don’t cut the mustard. Its halogen lights fall short of the minimum requirements for the ‘plus’ rating. Only the LED headlight-equipped models are top-rated.
The new design of the Honda Pilot has been a good one for safety. Previous to 2016, the Pilot had a ‘poor’ rating in small front overlap ratings, excluding it from the TSP awards.
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Currently, the 2017 Honda Pilot get the Top Safety Pick + rating when it’s equipped with the optional Collision Mitigation Braking System in the Honda Sensing package and the Elite trim’s LED headlights. All others don’t make the cut.
This is the first time the Hyundai Santa Fe has made the Top Safety Pick + win. All previous years were marginal in the small front overlap rating, but that changes for 2017. And now this handsome midsize SUV, when equipped with the optional Automatic Emergency Braking in the Tech package, is a dominant force.
Getting it into the ‘plus’ award is due to a rare ‘good’ rating with the optional HID headlights.
Toyota has put its standard Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection in the 2017 Highlander, which is a major factor in its TSP+ award. The Highlander was updated in 2016, and it was just in time. The midsized Toyota SUV was falling off the face of the earth from a boring design, but now it’s upstyled look makes it relevant again.
Unlike most others, its standard halogen headlights are acceptable for the ‘plus’ rating.
For four years running, the Acura MDX has been an IIHS Top Safety Pick. Its current incarnation is the familiar sultry look you’ve come to adore from Acura, and it hurts to think that it had to get smashed up for testing. But, since someone has to try out the standard Collision Mitigation Braking System, why not do it for an award?
The 2017 Acura MDX’s headlights are good enough across the board for the entire model to receive the Top Safety Pick + rating. And in case you’re curious, its little brother, the RDX, also won the same award.
After bashing up that sexy hourglass grille, IIHS decided the 2017 Lexus RX was good in all areas of crash ratings. It’s as you would expect from a premium car brand like Lexus, isn’t it?
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However, there seems to be a small issue when it comes to lighting. The RX only achieves Top Safety Pick + ratings when it’s equipped with the curve-adaptive Bi-LED headlights, which only come in the RX 350 and RX 450h trims with Adaptive Lighting package.
In a brand that’s made its name on safety, you’d expect big things from the XC60. For 2017 though, the Volvo XC60 barely scraped together the Top Safety Pick + award. It did great in all crash tests, but in the Front Crash Prevention criteria, it fell a bit flat.
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A premium SUV like this should have standard Forward Collision warning, but it’s actually optional! The XC60 only gets the award WITH that optional package and HID headlights.
That’s it, that’s all. The only large SUV to earn a Top Safety Pick rating for 2017 is the Audi Q7. When it’s equipped with the optional Audi Pre Sense package for collision detection and mitigation, the Audi Q7 is, essentially, the safest large SUV on the market.
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We can say that because there aren’t any others who’ve even managed to make the list!
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