Every year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS for short, puts vehicles to the test to see which ones come out on top for safety and which ones fall short. Out of all the 2020 models tested this year, one stands out. The Genesis G90 earned one of the IIHS’ highest safety award available. It now has a Top Safety Pick+ badge next to its name on the IIHS website. They explained why the G90 earned this high honor in safety.

What does the Top Safety Pick+ actually mean?

The Top Safety Pick+ award is given by the IIHS to vehicles that pass their criteria for safe driving. In the past, they awarded only the Top Safety Pick honor, which had a basic level of points needed to achieve it. In 2013, things changed, and they added the Pick+ award, which offered a more challenging set of standards as reported by U.S. News.

In 2020, those standards changed once again, and the Top Safety Pick+ award is now even tougher to achieve. That’s why this year’s list of Top Safety Pick+ winners is far shorter than last year’s. To earn the highest award, a vehicle must earn good ratings in tests for the driver’s and passenger side overlap front, moderate overlap front, front crash prevention systems with head restraints, side-impact, and roof-strength. 

With the Top Safety Pick+ award, headlight ratings must be good or acceptable, and it must also have advanced or superior ratings for both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests. For testing criteria, the Top Safety Pick+ award requires that the headlight features be standard on all models and not offered as an option.

What made the 2020 Genesis G90 a Top Safety Pick+?

The 2020 Genesis G90 managed to pass all tests to earn the Pick+ award. When IIHS evaluated the G90 for its ability to avoid collisions in the vehicle-to-vehicle scenarios in both the 12 and 25 mph tests, the G90 nailed it with a rating of superior. It also achieved an advanced rating for front crash pedestrian prevention testing. Those two areas alone are high honors for most vehicles on the market today.

The 2020 Genesis G90’s accomplishments in the crash tests don’t end there, though. The IIHS goes on to explain that the 2020 G90 showcased its ability to avoid collisions at the lower speeds with each of the vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. It also had no problem reducing speed when it came to the higher speed tests that the IIHS performed on it for their safety assessment in vehicle collisions.

What features does the G90 offer?

This large, luxury sedan went through a redesign this year, and it looks to be a good move on their part. They added new styling, grille, and headlamp design, but these features didn’t play a part when the Genesis G90 earned the Top Safety Pick+ award. It was the standard list of driver assistance technology added for the 2020 version.

Some of those features include highway driving and lane-following assist, forward collision alert, and a rear cross-traffic system. The safe exit alert system is another feature the automaker implemented to notify you of any object that might be nearing the open door.

Car and Driver reports that the G90 also has a spoiler on the trunk lid of the vehicle. This works well with the fact that the car’s frame is wider and longer than previous models. Stabilization and handling increased because the frame is bigger, but the spoiler will help reduce the drag that a large vehicle would bring. In the end, all of these features combined helped to gain the 2020 Genesis G90 the highest safety award available from the IIHS.

The 2020 model of the G90 proved itself to be a force to reckoned with when put up against its competitors. In this case, though, the G90 stands out because it now has proof, from IIHS themselves, that it’s safer than a lot of other vehicles tested for the 2020 year.