Hyundai and Kia Earned the Top Safety Pick from IIHS: Here’s What That Means

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IIHS or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety puts vehicles through rigorous safety tests to help ensure the latest models are not only up to par, but also to pinpoint which vehicles are truly the safest to drive on the open road. Testing processes include a 40 mile per hour crash test, headlight tests, vehicle-to-vehicle front crash tests, and alternative tests for specific scenarios — like a pedestrian front crash prevention test with dummies. For the 2025 year models, Top Safety Picks are the Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Camry and Hyundai Ioniq 6 in the midsize cars category.

However, both Hyundai’s 2026 Ioniq 9 and Kia’s 2026 Sportage earned the highest distinction this year, the 2025 Top Safety Pick+ (TSP+). Autoblog writes that new testing standards introduced more difficult rear occupant protection tests and stricter headlight performance standards. These safety picks are a pretty big deal, whether they seem so or not, because they help families decide what’s worth spending their money on when it comes time to upgrade. More specifically, they help quantify the balance between features and overall safety, proving that what the manufacturers are saying their vehicles offer is really true.

In this case, we know that Hyundai and Kia value real-world safety, rather than just stars or numbers on a page. Along with previous winners including Honda, Toyota and beyond, when you climb behind the wheel of their vehicles, you know you’re in for a safe ride and you’ll get from Point A to Point B with minimal problems.

Setting a New Standard In Vehicle Safety

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will require all passenger vehicles and light trucks to have automatic emergency braking systems (AEBs) by September 2029. Found in most newer vehicles, these systems include a bevy of sensors to detect and react to both vehicles or obstacles in the vicinity. This, in addition to other standard safety features, can help cut down on potential accidents and deaths.

They work alongside passenger detection, collision warnings, blind-spot monitoring systems and a few other safety features that now come standard in most modern vehicles from trucks to SUVs and sedans.

But it shows a renewed interest and focus on modern vehicle safety, precisely why proper testing and rating systems, like IIHS’s program, are so important. We need a true, verifiable standard to help discern what vehicles are safer to own and safer to drive, especially with all the new technologies coming to market. Electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, self-driving vehicles, you name it.

But What Does This Mean for DIY Repairs?

There’s no argument against having these systems, especially when they cut down on injuries and death. But there is a concern that many of these advanced technologies take away from DIY repair opportunities. In some cases, a local repair shop might not even be able to fix or diagnose problems, because they don’t have access to the right equipment, likely due to its proprietary nature.

As newer cars are equipped with more and more, the consumers “right-to-repair” abilities go down. You should be able to choose whether you take your car in for maintenance or repairs, or complete them yourself, when applicable. More importantly, you should have the full freedom to choose when and where you go for those repairs. Being able to choose an independent repair shop with whom you have a long-standing relationship over a big, official dealership, for example, nevermind the cost concerns.

For consumers, fewer options can also lead to a significant decrease in competition. If you have no choice but to go to a single dealership for repairs or maintenance, they have the opportunity to jack up the costs — and you have to pay. That could cause all sorts of problems in the industry and for the average person, as outlined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Safety Is the Priority

Ten out of 14 independent repair “stakeholders” polled about the advanced technologies said they may indeed limit a technician’s ability to conduct “some repairs.” Moreover, while it’s kind of an obvious assessment, they also made clear that cutting-edge technologies, like those found in electric vehicles, may also make repairs more expensive and complex because they require specific knowledge or equipment.

There isn’t necessarily a solution or sweeping answer to this problem. Better safety measures in vehicles, and requiring manufacturers to include them, is a relatively smart move to cut down on road accidents and injuries. There were nearly 43,000 motor vehicle accident deaths in the United States in 2022, with millions more injured. Preventing those accidents is an absolute priority.

The somewhat positive news is that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is “looking at new ways to categorize consumer complaints” on the matter. This will help them “identify how much this issue negatively affects vehicle owners.” Hopefully, if they discover that our “right-to-repair” as consumers and vehicle owners is being eroded, a compromise can eventually be worked out that still uses these innovative technologies but provides new channels for maintenance.

What’s Next?

For those who are interested in conducting DIY repairs and maintenance on their vehicles, it’s becoming more important than ever to have the right, advanced equipment in your toolbox or toolset. The working systems and components inside a vehicle are increasingly reliant on modern tech and electronics, meaning they’re connected to the vehicle’s computer. That’s why it’s always a good idea to have a capable OBD2 scanner on hand, unless you own an all-electric vehicle. Most EVs don’t have the standard OBD2 port, because it was originally designed to measure the emissions system — true EVs don’t produce emissions.

As for the shrinking ability to repair and maintain more advanced vehicles, one can only hope the necessary agencies will properly look into the matter and work out a way with vehicle manufacturers to ensure everyones “right-to-repair” is protected and upheld. Without a broader commentary on politics, that may or may not be possible. It hinges as much on the technology used and its complex nature as it does the vehicle manufacturer’s upholding those rights.

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