Hyundai Ioniq 5 nabs highest safety award from US insurance body

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric crossover has earned the top safety plus award from the US-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), citing high-level front crash prevention and its ability to recognise other vehicles and pedestrians.

Adding yet another award to the Ioniq 5’s already feathered hat, the IIHS said it gave Hyundai’s first dedicated electric vehicle the Top Safety Pick+ award as it gained excellent ratings in six crashworthiness measures.

These included “driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength and head restraint tests,” the insurance safety body said.

“They must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations.”

The Ioniq 5 met all these conditions and thus has joined the likes of the Tesla Model Y and the Tesla Model 3.

The IIHS also credited the Ioniq 5 with its excellent LED reflector headlights. These were rated highest on the SEL and Limited trims, while the SE trim got an “acceptable” pass. (In Australia, the Ioniq 5 is available in one trim, with local spec sheets quoting “Dual projector beam LED” headlights.)

The new US-based safety award applies for all Ioniq 5 builds since December 2021, when it says “Hyundai made changes to the front seats that could affect the head restraint evaluation.”

In October, the Ioniq 5 was also awarded a top safety rating from the locally-based ANCAP alongside the Volvo XC40 Pure Recharge.

In doing so, ANCAP complimented the Ioniq 5 on getting high scores for full-frontal – which utilises small female stature dummies) – side-impact as well as oblique pole tests. It also scored the lowest risk that ANCAP said it had seen for impact on vehicles also involved in a crash, since it introduced the measure in 2020.