No Automaker Has More IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus Picks Than Kia

It's normal. We don't blame you.

You hear "automotive safety" and you think Volvo. Or Mercedes-Benz. Maybe even Lexus.

But when you're thinking about automotive safety in 2018, it's becoming increasingly clear that Kia should be the first automobile brand that comes to mind. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the independent global leader in automotive crash test safety, no auto brand produces more Top Safety Pick+ vehicles than Kia.

Not Volvo, not Mercedes-Benz, not Lexus. With the arrival of the 2018 Kia Rio on the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ in October, there are now six Kias in the group of the safest vehicles on the market.

• 2018 Kia Rio
• 2018 Kia Forte (all-new 2019 model not yet tested)
• 2018 & 2019 Kia Optima
• 2018 Kia Niro
• 2018 Kia Soul
• 2019 Kia Sorento

The standards are extraordinarily high. "To qualify for a 2018 Top Safety Pick+," the IIHS says, "a vehicle must earn good ratings in the driver-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests, as well as an acceptable or good rating in the passenger-side small overlap front test." And then, on top of that, "It also must earn an advanced or superior rating for front crash prevention and a good headlight rating." (This means specific versions of the vehicles listed above are named Top Safety Pick, while others earn the + designation.)

Given updates to the revamped 2019 Kia Sedona, it seems more than likely that Kia's minivan will also earn Top Safety Pick+ classification once it's tested. Don't forget that the 2018 Sedona is already a Top Safety Pick, along with the 2018 Kia Sportage, 2018 Kia Cadenza, and 2018 Kia Sorento.