The safest new cars of 2026, according to Consumer Reports and the IIHS

From compact sedans under $25,000 to electric SUVs, these are the vehicles that earned the highest crash-test ratings from the industry's most rigorous safety tester

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Car safety ratings have become more demanding — and more meaningful — than at any point in the history of consumer testing. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit funded by the insurance industry, has spent three decades developing crash tests that push vehicle structures and emergency technology well beyond what regulators require. Consumer Reports, the independent product-testing nonprofit, incorporates IIHS results into its own Overall Scores alongside its evaluations of braking, handling, control usability, and whether proven crash-prevention technology comes standard on base trims. Together, the two organizations provide the most rigorous independent picture of new-car safety available to U.S. buyers.

For 2026, the IIHS raised the bar again. Vehicles seeking either of its two awards — Top Safety Pick and the higher-tier Top Safety Pick Plus — now need a Good rating in an updated moderate-overlap front crash test that, for the first time, places a dummy in the rear seat to assess how well the back of the cabin holds up. Before this change, automakers could earn recognition even if their back-seat occupants fared poorly.

The results filtered out a number of models that had won in prior years and rewarded the brands that had invested most heavily in structural engineering and crash-prevention software. Sixty-three vehicles made the 2026 list. Of those, 45 earned TSP Plus, the designation reserved for vehicles that also pass a new vehicle-to-vehicle crash prevention test at highway speeds, including scenarios involving motorcycles and semi-trailers. The other 18 earned the standard TSP, which still requires Good ratings across the full battery of frontal and side crash evaluations, along with acceptable or better performance in pedestrian braking and headlight assessments.

No minivans made the list. That is a notable gap given that the segment markets itself as the definitive family vehicle. The IIHS noted that minivans lagged in rear-seat crash protection. "It's disappointing that minivans continue to struggle to provide the best-available protection for passengers in the back, considering that these are supposed to be family vehicles," IIHS President David Harkey said.

The list spans sedans priced under $23,000, hybrid crossovers, three-row SUVs, and large electric trucks. Mazda earned eight TSP Plus awards for the third year running, and Hyundai and Kia together claimed more than a dozen designations across their shared platform families. Meanwhile, some of the industry's most popular vehicles, including the Tesla $TSLA Model 3 and Model Y, did not appear on the 2026 list.

Picking the safest car is not simply a matter of finding the one with the most awards. The IIHS ratings tell buyers how a vehicle performs in controlled crash scenarios. Real-world safety also depends on the standard availability of proven crash-prevention technology, headlight quality across all trim levels, and the ease with which drivers can actually use the systems. Consumer Reports has documented patterns in which automakers win safety awards while still requiring buyers to upgrade past base trims to access the features that most directly prevent crashes. Several TSP Plus winners do exactly that.

This list covers 15 vehicles that stand out not just for their ratings but for what those ratings represent about the engineering decisions manufacturers made before these cars went on sale.

The Kia K4 holds the distinction of being the least expensive vehicle to earn the IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus award for 2026. Its base price starts at $22,290, which makes it one of the few compact sedans where buyers do not have to choose between price and safety credentials. It earned TSP Plus alongside five-star marks from NHTSA, two of the most rigorous independent evaluations available to U.S. car buyers.

The K4 replaced the Forte in Kia's lineup and brought a more aggressive design to a segment that had grown predictable. Under the hood, the base model uses a 2.0-liter four-cylinder producing 147 horsepower paired with a continuously variable transmission. A turbocharged 1.6-liter option is available on the GT-Line Turbo trim, bringing output up to 201 horsepower. The sedan is joined for 2026 by a hatchback variant that starts around $25,000 and offers a more practical cargo profile.

The standard safety suite includes adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, automatic high-beam headlights, and automatic emergency braking. All of that comes regardless of trim level. There is one notable caveat the Consumer Reports evaluation flags directly. Blind-spot monitoring — which both Consumer Reports and the IIHS consider a technology with demonstrated real-world crash-prevention value — is not included on the base LX trim. Buyers have to move to the LXS, starting around $23,390, to get it. "Buyers shouldn't have to pay extra for proven safety features," said Emily Thomas, manager for auto safety at Consumer Reports. "Safety should be standard." For buyers willing to step up one trim, the full package comes together at a price that remains well below the segment average.

The K4 also includes a 12.3-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple $AAPL CarPlay and Android Auto across all trims. The interior quality improved significantly compared to the Forte it replaced, with better materials and more logical control placement. In independent evaluations, the adaptive cruise control system performed well in stop-and-go traffic, and the lane-centering function integrated smoothly on highway stretches.

For buyers shopping in the compact sedan space, the K4's safety record sets a high bar. Mazda's 3 sedan also earns TSP Plus, and the Toyota $TM Camry and Hyundai Sonata cover the midsize tier. But at its price point, no other TSP Plus winner this year comes close to the K4's value proposition.

The Toyota $TM Prius has earned IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus recognition for multiple consecutive generations, and the 2026 model — now in its fourth year of this body style — continues that record. The third-generation redesign that launched for 2023 brought significant structural changes alongside a restyled exterior that moved the car away from its utilitarian origins. The 2026 version carries forward that platform essentially unchanged, with IIHS ratings from crash tests of the 2023 model applying across the generation.

Toyota's Safety Sense 3.0 package comes standard on every Prius trim, without exception. The system bundles pre-collision warning with automatic emergency braking that detects vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. It also includes adaptive cruise control with lane-centering capability, lane departure alert with steering assist, automatic high beams, and a safe exit warning that alerts occupants if a cyclist or vehicle is approaching when a door is about to open. That last feature is particularly relevant in urban environments where door-zone collisions are a genuine risk.

The fifth-generation hybrid system in the Prius delivers up to 57 miles per gallon in city driving and 56 on the highway for front-wheel-drive models, making it among the most efficient non-plug-in vehicles on the market. A plug-in hybrid variant — the Prius Prime, now sold as the Prius Plug-in Hybrid — adds an electric-only range of around 44 miles before the hybrid system takes over. Both configurations share the same safety ratings and standard technology suite.

NHTSA gave the Prius a five-star overall rating, with five stars in frontal and side crash tests and four in rollover resistance. That four-star rollover score is common among lower-riding passenger cars and reflects the geometry of a car designed for aerodynamic efficiency rather than ground clearance.

Pricing starts around $30,000 for the base LE trim, placing the Prius in a competitive band for the compact hybrid segment. The XLE and Limited trims add features including a larger 12.3-inch touchscreen and upgraded audio. Parking sensors with low-speed automatic braking — an underrated safety feature for urban driving — are standard on all but the base LE, where they are available as a $35 option. That is a small sum for a demonstrably useful safety technology, and buyers selecting the LE would be well served to include it.

The 2026 Hyundai Palisade earned TSP Plus under the updated IIHS testing criteria, the same framework that specifically raised the bar for rear-seat crash protection. That matters more for a three-row SUV than for almost any other vehicle category. The Palisade is designed explicitly as a family hauler, and the people most likely riding in its rear seats are children and second-row passengers who depend entirely on the structure around them.

The IIHS's updated moderate-overlap front crash test now uses a rear-seat dummy to evaluate occupant protection for passengers sitting behind the driver. The 2026 Palisade earned a Good rating — the highest possible score — in that test . Consumer Reports specifically incorporates IIHS rear-seat results into its Overall Score, and the Palisade's performance in the updated moderate-overlap test contributed directly to its standing in CR's safety verdict for the model year. The Palisade also cleared the new vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention criteria, which tests how well the car's automatic braking responds at highway speeds, including to motorcycles and semi-trailers — scenarios that more closely reflect the kinds of crashes that end fatalities on U.S. roads.

The Palisade comes........

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