The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently raised the bar for its coveted Top Safety Pick+ award, resulting in fewer cars making the cut for its highest award. But after a second round of testing for the year, three new vehicles have made the cut. The new Audi Q6 e-Tron earned top marks in each evaluation, while the Buick Enclave and Nissan Armada were let down in just one category. The let-down for both cars was in the headlights, an area where the German luxury brand excels.

It’s also worth remembering the Q6 e-Tron is a mid-size crossover that starts at $63,800, while the Nissan Armada starts at $57,520, and the Buick Enclave starts at $45,100. The less expensive two are both three-row crossovers, and their awards only apply to 2025 models.

• 2025 Audi Q6 e-tron

  Base Trim Drivetrain

  Rear-Wheel Drive

  Base Trim Transmission

  Automatic

  Base Trim Horsepower

  422 hp

  Base Trim Engine

  EV

• 

  2025 Buick Enclave

  Base Trim Drivetrain

  Front-Wheel Drive

  Base Trim Transmission

  8-speed automatic

  Base Trim Horsepower

  328 hp

  Base Trim Engine

  2.5-liter turbo four-cylinder Gas

• 

  2025 Nissan Armada

  Base Trim Drivetrain

  Rear-Wheel Drive

  Base Trim Transmission

  9-speed automatic

  Base Trim Horsepower

  425 HP @5600 RPM

  Base Trim Engine

  3.5L Twin-Turbo V6 ICE

11 New IIHS Safety Ratings In Total

A total of 11 vehicles were in the latest batch of tests, with the GMC Acadia just missing out on the plus part and getting a Top Safety Pick award. The other vehicles were:

• Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron
• Cadillac Lyriq
• Kia K4
• Nissan Kicks
• Nissan Rogue
• Nissan Sentra
• Toyota Tacoma crew cab

None of those scored any IIHS safety awards.

While the Nissan Armada came out strong in the testing, the Nissan Sentra did not. Most notably, it got a ‘Poor’ score for its headlights and a ‘Marginal’ score for front crash protection and the updated moderate overlap front test. However, the Tacoma, Kicks, and K4 also fell foul of the new moderate overlap test. Every car tested here scored a ‘Good’ on the small overlap front test.

Overlap Test Explained

In an overlap test, only a certain portion of a car impacts a barrier in a crash test. Overlap tests operate the same way as front-impact tests, but instead of the entire front section of the car absorbing the brunt of the impact, only a measured portion is required to bear the impact. The moderate overlap test involves 40 percent of the width of the vehicle, while the small overlap test involves 25 percent of the width. The IIHS’s updates to the moderate overlap tests take better account of the position of the rear seat belts and how well the restraints control the motion of the crash test dummy during the impact.

While it seems like a small change to the test, in the updated test, a dummy the size of a small woman or 12-year-old child is positioned in the second row behind the dummy in the driver’s seat. To get a score of ‘Good’, there can’t be an excessive risk of injury to the chest, among other body regions, for the second-row passenger dummy. It’s measured using a device that records the seat belt tension and the dummy’s chest deflection sensor to get a realistic result. Effectively, this measures how much the rib cage is compressed by the force of the crash.

The revised overlap test was put into practice in 2022, and due to the lifecycle of cars being, on average, around eight to ten years, it’s taking time to catch up. New models, of course, can aim to pass the test and make their cars safer.