The Ioniq Hybrid, the Elantra GT and the Santa Fe Sport are the three latest vehicles from Hyundai to earn the 2017 Top Safety Pick+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
To qualify for the Top Safety Pick+ award, a vehicle must have good ratings in all five IIHS crashworthiness tests — small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraints. An advanced or superior rating for front crash prevention and an acceptable or good headlight rating is also required.
The three vehicles qualify when equipped with optional front crash prevention and specific headlights. The optional front crash prevention system earns a superior rating.
All three vehicles avoided collisions in the 12 mph IIHS track test. At 25 mph, the Ioniq Hybrid and the Santa Fe Sport avoided a collision, and the Elantra GT’s impact speed was reduced by 22 mph.
The 2017 Ioniq Hybrid’s high-intensity discharge headlights, which come with the Limited trim on vehicles built after May 2017, earned an acceptable rating. The 2018 Elantra GT’s best available headlights are also rated acceptable. They are optional LED headlights with high-beam assist, a feature that automatically switches between high beams and low beams, depending on the presence of other vehicles. Without the feature, the LED headlights earn a marginal rating, while the base halogen headlights are poor.
The 2018 Santa Fe Sport’s optional curve-adaptive headlights with high-beam assist, available on vehicles built after June 2017, are rated good. Other variants are acceptable or poor.
A total of seven models from the Hyundai brand have now qualified for the 2017 Top Safety Pick+ award.
