The 2024 Mazda CX-90 Receives the IIHS’ Top Safety Pick+ Award

The new 2024 Mazda CX-90 and its plug-in hybrid variant have been awarded the Top Safety Pick+ title by the IIHS due to their advanced active and passive safety features that make them some of the safest new vehicles on North American roads.

How are IIHS tests conducted

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is an independent American organisation that tests every new vehicle on the market in order to asses the risk of injuries to occupants and thus allow comparisons between competing models. Since the IIHS purchases all of its test vehicles directly on dealer lots, neither the manufacturer nor the government has any influence on the results. Since 2013, the IIHS has issued two types of awards to make the safest vehicles on the market stand out: the Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ titles. In order to obtain the second award in 2023, new vehicles have to excel in various tests, such as small overlap frontal crashes on both sides and a newly revised side impact test that is now more challenging than before.

The results

The 2024 Mazda CX-90 MHEV and PHEV have both performed flawlessly in physical crash tests, receiving the highest possible ratings in all of the tests. This is possible due to the extensive engineering that has gone into the crash structure of the CX-90 in order to protect occupants by limiting intrusions into the cabin and dissipating crash forces throughout the chassis. Of course, the presence of advanced airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners for all seating positions also helps make sure that everyone on board can escape unharmed.

Crash prevention features

Of course, the best way to prevent injuries is to help avoid a collision altogether, something that the IIHS is well aware of. Indeed, the institute also takes into account the performance of standard and available collision mitigation technologies in its ratings, requiring a rating of “Advanced” or “Superior” in order to qualify for the Top Safety Pick+ award. Unsurprisingly, the i-Activsense technologies used in the Mazda CX-90 have received the highest rating in all testing, including vehicle-to-pedestrian detection at night. Headlights are also required to be either “Good” or “Acceptable” for the vehicle to receive the Institute’s top prize and, here again, the CX-90’s available units receive the best possible rating.

Other award-winning 2023 Mazda models

The 2024 Mazda CX-90 is not the only current Mazda model to have been awarded by the IIHS. Indeed, the Mazda 3, Mazda 3 Sport, and the CX-30 receive the Top Safety Pick award when equipped with optional collision prevention technologies, while the CX-5, CX-9, and CX-50 achieve the same result with their standard features.

Contact Us to learn more about the safety technologies in the 2024 Mazda CX-90!