The Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid, a new small car, is one of the three latest vehicles from Hyundai to earn the 2017 TOP SAFETY PICK+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The other two are the redesigned Elantra GT, another small car, and the Santa Fe Sport, a midsize SUV.
To qualify for the 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.
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. In the 25 mph track test, 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 (HID) headlights, which come with the Limited trim on vehicles built after May 2017, earn an acceptable rating. Most of the other headlight variants earn a poor rating, though IIHS hasn’t yet had the opportunity to test the car’s optional curve-adaptive HID lights built after May.
The 2018 Elantra GT’s best available headlights also are 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 on vehicles built after June 2017 are rated good. Other headlight variants are acceptable or poor.
With these three vehicles, a total of seven models from the Hyundai brand qualify for the 2017 TOP SAFETY PICK+ award.
