The Mazda CX-90 is now officially one of the safest cars you can buy.
If you're looking for a genuinely safe SUV to protect you and your family in the event of a crash, you should shortlist the 2024 Mazda CX-90 and its plug-in hybrid (PHEV) counterpart. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has awarded both models the Top Safety Pick+ award, the highest accolade a car can receive.
The CX-90 and CX-90 PHEV received the highest rating (called "good") in most IIHS crash safety and crash prevention standards. Naturally, this includes the IIHS' notorious updated side impact test, which has led to multiple cars losing their Top Safety Pick + rating.
The CX-90 also received the highest rating for the small overlap front driver-side and passenger-side crash tests. The same goes for its driver injury prevention measures. The combustion and the hybrid versions also received a superior rating for their front crash prevention (day and night) tests.
The only exception is a lower "acceptable" rating for the headlights on lower-trim models. This is a common occurrence among cars that only offer LED headlights on top-tier models. The CX-90 PHEV received a "good rating" because it ships standard with more powerful LED headlights.
The 2024 Mazda CX-90 and CX-90 PHEV join a couple of other IIHS Top Safety Pick+ winners in the mid-size SUV category. This includes the 2023 Honda Pilot, one of the safest SUVs you can buy right now. The Pilot also passed the more stringent tests.
Also included in the list are the 2023 Hyundai Palisade and the 2023 Kia Telluride, the latter of which received a light update and a price bump for the 2024 model year. Other models who have received the highest accolade this year so far include the 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee L, 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 2023 Subaru Ascent, 2023 Nissan Pathfinder, 2023 Toyota Highlander, and 2023 Volkswagen ID.4.
Cars that received the slightly lower Top Safety Pick include the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander, the 2023 Mazda CX-9, and the 2023 Ford Explorer.
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