The 2022 Acura MDX is here, and so far it’s looking good. Acura skipped a year with the MDX, but it’s back and more luxurious than ever. But is the 2022 Acura MDX safe? The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) seems to think so. It awarded the 2022 Acura MDX with its top safety award, the Top Safety Pick+. Let’s take a look at what makes the 2022 Acura MDX so safe. 

What is an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ Award?

To be awarded an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award, a vehicle must score at least a good or higher in all of the IIHS crashworthy ratings. These include the driver-side small overlap front, the passenger-side small overlap front, and the moderate overlap front. In addition to these front crash testings, the vehicle must get a good or higher in the side crash tests, roof strength, and head restraint tests. 

Additionally, the vehicle must have an advanced or superior in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests. Headlights, often overlooked by car shoppers, must be good or acceptable on all trim levels. Oftentimes one trim level has good headlight ratings while another trim level does not. 

The 2022 Acura MDX is a luxury midsize SUV

The 2022 Acura MDX got a good score in all of the crashworthiness categories, including small overlap front: driver-side. Within this category are subcategories, including structure and safety cage, driver injury measures, and driver restraints and dummy kinematics. The 2022 Acura MDX scored a good in each of these. 

Similarly, the small overlap front: passenger-side category and subcategories were all good. So were the moderate overlap front subcategory results. 

If you’ve been following along, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that all of the side crash test ratings were good as well. And the roof? Yeah, it’s also good. If you’re into numbers, the roof’s curb weight is 4,453 and the peak force is 22,519. The strength-to-weight ratio is 5.06. This is better than the minimum required for a good rating, which is 4. The IIHS determines what the strength-to-weight ratio is by crushing the vehicle by five inches. The amount of force it takes to do that is the resulting score. This is important in the event of a rollover; you don’t want the roof to give in easily. 

Head restraints and seat ratings are important because neck injuries and whiplash are common car accident injuries. The IIHS tested a 2022 Acura MDX’s power leather seats and gave it all good ratings. This includes the overall evaluation as well as the dynamic rating and seat/head restraint geometry. 

How is crash prevention in the 2022 Acura MDX?

You already know the front crash prevention: vehicle-to-vehicle must be good, or else the IIHS wouldn’t have given the 2022 MDX a Top Safety Pick Plus award. The IIHS tested the standard Collision Mitigation Braking System and found it to be superior. The braking system met the requirements for forward collision warning, and nearly avoided a collision in the 12 mph IIHS test. In the 25 mph IIHS test, the Acura MDX did avoid a collision. 

It also found the front crash prevention: vehicle-to-pedestrian to be superior. In the crossing child test, the 2022 Acura MDX was able to avoid a collision. In the 25 mph test, it reduced speed by 19 mph before impact.

In the crossing adult test, the 2022 MDX avoided a collision in both the 12 mph and 25 mph tests. Similarly, it avoided a collision in the parallel adult test. It didn’t avoid a collision in the 37 mph test, but it did reduce speed by 30 mph. The MDX also issued a warning 2.2 seconds before impact. 

The headlight ratings in the 2022 Acura MDX were good. Although it’s not part of the Top Safety Plus Pick Award, the child seat anchors got a G+ rating, which is excellent. 

Overall, the 2022 Acura MDX is safe. If you’re looking for a midsize luxury SUV that the IIHS finds crashworthy, the 2022 MDX is a good choice.