Safety is one of the most important aspects of a car, and that’s doubly true when it comes to SUVs. Subaru is one of the most beloved car brands on the market, and one of the reasons why people love Subaru is because of how safe its cars are. Unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what’s allowed the 2021 Subaru Ascent to be ranked as the safest midsize SUV.

The 2021 Subaru Ascent was ranked as the safest midsize SUV

There are many ways to measure how safe a car is, and the way CARFAX did it was pretty simple. CARFAX wrote that it measured safety by combining the crash test scores from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or the NHTSA, with the crash test scores from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS.

CARFAX then took into account how many safety features are available on the car, and that’s how it’ll rank a car’s safety.

And simply said, the 2021 Subaru Ascent excelled in all those things. According to CARFAX, the NHTSA gave the Ascent a 5 out of 5 in its crash tests. The IIHS had a similar review, and it gave the Ascent the Top Safety Pick+ award in 2020, which is the highest safety award that the IIHS gives to cars. 

The 2021 Subaru Ascent’s many smart safety features

CARFAX gives safety points to cars that come standard with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as those features allow drivers to use their phones without picking them up. The Ascent comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, and Subaru has also put a lot of other standard safety features on the Ascent. 

CARFAX wrote that the 2021 Ascent comes with standard smart safety features such as “automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, a rear-seat reminder, and more.”

However, CARFAX said that blind-spot monitoring is a “key safety feature,” but the 2021 Ascent doesn’t come with that as standard. In order to get blind-spot monitoring, drivers will have to pay a roughly $3,000 premium for it and other features.

In addition to those smart safety features, CARFAX wrote that the Ascent also has a lot of optional smart safety features. These include: reverse automatic emergency braking, lane change assist, and rain-sensing windshield wipers.

Furthermore, CARFAX said that Subaru upgraded the amount of standard smart safety features on the Ascent in the 2020 and 2021 model years, so Subaru might keep adding more standard smart safety features in the future. 

What other midsize SUVs proved to be safe?

While the 2021 Ascent is at the top, it’s not alone by any means. CARFAX’s top 10 list of the safest midsize SUVs of 2020 was dominated by Asian automakers such as Toyota, Mazda, and Kia.

Ford and Volkswagen were the only two non-Asian automakers to make the list, but the Mazda CX-9 and the Toyota Highlander were both in the top three along with the Ascent.

The CX-9 came in at second place on CARFAX’s list, and by and large, it has a lot of the same features and ratings as the Ascent had. The CX-9 also received the IIHS’ Top Safety Pick+ award, and it was also given a 5 out of 5 by the NHTSA. That said, there’s a minor blight on the CX-9’s record, as the NHTSA gave it 4 out of 5 stars in its frontal crash test.

The Highlander, which came in at third place, is also quite similar to its competitors in terms of safety. It won the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award, and it also got 5 out of 5 stars from the NHTSA. That said, similar to the CX-9, it also received 4 out of 5 stars in its frontal crash test.