The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) both crash-test new vehicles, but they run different tests, use different scales and answer different questions. IIHS issues a pass-or-fail award, Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+, for each award year. NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) publishes star ratings for frontal crash, side crash and rollover, plus checkmarks for driver-assistance technologies. Details below are as of October 28, 2026.
Key takeaways
- IIHS is an independent nonprofit wholly supported by auto insurers and insurance associations; NCAP is run by NHTSA, a federal agency.
- For the 2026 award year, both IIHS awards require good ratings in the small overlap front, moderate overlap front (which now includes the rear seat) and side tests, acceptable or good headlights on all trims, and standard pedestrian front crash prevention rated acceptable or good. Top Safety Pick+ raises the pedestrian requirement to good and adds an acceptable or good vehicle-to-vehicle rating.
- NHTSA's stars cover frontal, side and rollover results only. Driver-assistance features appear as checkmarks, and the 2024 NCAP expansion was postponed from model year 2026 to model year 2027.
- Frontal crash results from both programs, and NHTSA's overall star score, compare fairly only between vehicles of similar weight. NHTSA's side and rollover ratings can be compared across classes.
Who runs each program
IIHS describes itself as an independent, nonprofit scientific and educational organization. Its About us page says it is wholly supported by auto insurers and insurance associations, and that three insurance industry groups established it in 1959. Its affiliate, the Highway Loss Data Institute, studies insurance loss data by make and model.
NCAP is a program of NHTSA, an agency of the US Department of Transportation. Changes to the program are announced in the Federal Register, such as the September 22, 2025 notice (docket NHTSA-2024-0077) that delayed the latest updates. NHTSA's lookup tool is at nhtsa.gov/ratings.
What each program crash tests
The two programs use different crash configurations, speeds and rating scales. The table summarizes what each program's own pages describe.
| Area | IIHS | NHTSA NCAP |
|---|---|---|
| Front crash | Small overlap: 40 mph, 25% of the front hits a rigid barrier, run on the driver side and the passenger side. Moderate overlap: 40 mph, 40% overlap, with a driver dummy and a smaller dummy in the second row behind the driver (rear-seat evaluation added in 2022). | Full-width rigid barrier crash at 35 mph. |
| Side crash | A 4,200-pound moving barrier hits the driver side at 37 mph, with a small-woman-or-12-year-old-size dummy in the driver seat and another behind it. Updated in 2021 to be more severe. | Moving deformable barrier at 38.5 mph, plus an oblique pole test at 20 mph into a 25 cm pole, as described in NHTSA's 2008 program notice. |
| Rollover | No current rollover test. IIHS lists its former roof strength test as discontinued, with ratings still shown for older models. | Rating based on the static stability factor (half the track width divided by the center-of-gravity height) and a dynamic "fishhook" maneuver. |
| Crash avoidance | Vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention at 31, 37 and 43 mph against passenger car, motorcycle and semitrailer targets; pedestrian front crash prevention at 12, 25 and 37 mph in daylight and dark scenarios. | Not part of the stars. Recommended technologies are shown as pass or fail checkmarks. |
| Headlights | Rated on straight and curved approaches, with glare for oncoming drivers measured; each headlight system a vehicle offers gets its own rating. | Not part of the star ratings. |
| How results appear | Good, acceptable, marginal or poor per test. | Star ratings per test, an overall vehicle score, and checkmarks. |
The sources are IIHS's pages on the small overlap, moderate overlap, side, vehicle-to-vehicle, pedestrian and headlight evaluations, and NHTSA's July 11, 2008 Federal Register notice, which set the frontal, side, pole, rollover and overall-score structure NCAP still uses. NHTSA's December 2024 notice confirms that NCAP's ratings are still based on crashworthiness (frontal and side) and rollover tests.
The overall vehicle score combines the frontal, side and rollover star ratings into one figure, weighted 5/12 frontal, 4/12 side and 3/12 rollover in the 2008 notice. A single overall number can hide a weaker result in one test, so the individual ratings are worth opening.
2026 Top Safety Pick criteria
IIHS announced its 2026 criteria on March 24, 2026, and they are listed on the 2026 Top Safety Picks page. A vehicle must meet every row for its tier.
| Requirement | Top Safety Pick | Top Safety Pick+ |
|---|---|---|
| Small overlap front | Good | Good |
| Moderate overlap front (includes rear seat) | Good | Good |
| Side | Good | Good |
| Headlights (all trims) | Acceptable or good | Acceptable or good |
| Pedestrian front crash prevention | Acceptable or good | Good |
| Vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention 2.0 | Not required | Acceptable or good |
IIHS requires the qualifying front crash prevention systems to be standard equipment for either award, a rule new for 2026. A vehicle whose pedestrian-braking system is a paid option does not qualify on the strength of the optional system.
What changed from earlier years
- 2026: a good moderate overlap rating, which reflects rear-seat protection, is required for either award; in 2025 Top Safety Pick+ needed good and Top Safety Pick needed acceptable. The vehicle-to-vehicle 2.0 evaluation, introduced in 2024, was added as a requirement for Top Safety Pick+ and IIHS called it the biggest change.
- 2024: the criteria required a good rating in the updated side test for either award, combined the daytime and nighttime pedestrian tests into one evaluation, and added the second-row dummy to the moderate overlap evaluation for Top Safety Pick+.
- 2023: the updated side test replaced the original, and acceptable or good headlights became a requirement on all trims for both awards (previously the lower tier needed them on only one trim).
Seat belt reminders and ease of use of child-seat anchors (LATCH) are not award criteria, according to IIHS.
What IIHS says is coming
In a September 9, 2025 announcement, IIHS said it plans to add impairment detection, intelligent speed assistance and driver attention systems to the Top Safety Pick+ criteria, and that automakers can expect multiple such features by 2030 or sooner. The first speed assistance ratings are to be issued in 2027 and incorporated into the award after that, so no speed assistance requirement is in force for 2026. The pages reviewed for this article did not publish a full set of criteria for the next award year.
NCAP updates and their status
NHTSA's December 3, 2024 final decision added four driver-assistance technologies to NCAP (blind spot warning, blind spot intervention, lane keeping assist and pedestrian automatic emergency braking), made the evaluation of existing technologies stricter, and set a roadmap running from 2024 to 2033. It was meant to start with model year 2026. The notice did not change the star system: NHTSA had asked for comment in 2022 on ideas such as a points-based system and half-star ratings, and the notice left rating-system changes for later decisions under the roadmap.
The September 22, 2025 notice postponed the November 2024 pedestrian crashworthiness changes and the December 2024 driver-assistance changes by one model year, to model year 2027. For model year 2026, NHTSA continues to recommend forward collision warning, crash imminent braking, dynamic brake support and lane departure warning. Manufacturers could submit data on the new technologies for model year 2026 and receive credit for passing, and that credit can carry over to 2027 if the hardware and software are unchanged. No model year 2026 credit is given for pedestrian protection. The notice kept the pass-or-fail checkmark approach and did not add a comparative crash-avoidance rating.
Pedestrian crashworthiness protection is one of the changes now set for model year 2027. Under the September 2025 notice, it is credited as pass or fail rather than with stars, so it does not change a vehicle's star ratings. Check the vehicle's page on nhtsa.gov for its current status.
The rollover rating may also change. In an August 17, 2026 request for comments (docket NHTSA-2026-1651), NHTSA proposed dropping the fishhook test starting with model year 2027 vehicles and basing the rollover rating on the static stability factor. As of October 28, 2026, this is a proposal, not a final decision.
Looking up a specific vehicle
On iihs.org/ratings, type the vehicle name in the search box (a year can be added), or use the Current models link to browse by size and type. The Award winners link lists the vehicles that earned Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ for a given year.
On NHTSA's ratings page, search by model year, make and model. NHTSA's public ratings data service shows that results are kept per model year and per variant, with descriptions that include body style and drive type, and that each entry has separate frontal, side, rollover and overall ratings and a note on whether technologies such as forward collision warning are standard. A different drivetrain or model year may have its own result or none.
Comparing ratings without errors
Weight sets the limit on comparisons. IIHS notes on its small overlap and moderate overlap pages that results in those tests can only be compared among vehicles of similar weight. Its award page adds that larger, heavier vehicles generally afford more protection than smaller, lighter ones, so a winning small car may protect occupants less than a larger vehicle that did not win.
NHTSA's 2008 notice explains the same limit for NCAP: a crash into a fixed rigid barrier represents a crash between two vehicles of the same weight, so the frontal rating, and the combined overall score that includes it, depend on vehicle mass and cannot be compared across weight classes. Side (barrier and pole) and rollover results can be compared across classes. A five-star overall score on a small car and on a large SUV is therefore not the same level of protection in a crash between the two. That wording is from the notice that built the current program, so confirm it against the explanation on nhtsa.gov.
Model year matters as well. An IIHS award belongs to an award year with its own criteria, so a 2024 award and a 2026 award are not the same standard, and the 2026 award list includes some 2027 models. The IIHS page also states the awards are given within size categories. An NHTSA star rating belongs to a model year and variant, and the checkmark list changes as NCAP adds technologies.
Frequently asked questions
Can a vehicle earn five NHTSA stars and still miss an IIHS award?
Yes. The IIHS award adds requirements the stars do not include, such as a good small overlap result, acceptable or good headlights on all trims, and standard front crash prevention that rates well in IIHS's pedestrian test. NCAP's ratings are based on crashworthiness, so a vehicle can do well in them and still fall short of an IIHS criterion.
Do NHTSA's driver-assistance checkmarks change the star rating?
No. NHTSA's December 2024 notice says NCAP assigns ratings based on crashworthiness and rollover tests and has no complementary rating for crash avoidance, and it identifies vehicles with automatic emergency braking that pass its criteria through checkmarks on its website. The September 2025 notice kept that checkmark approach for model year 2026 and did not adopt a comparative rating.
Do seat belt reminders and child-seat anchors count toward a Top Safety Pick?
They do not count as award criteria. IIHS still publishes seat belt reminder and LATCH ratings, which are listed among its tests, so they are worth checking separately if a child restraint will be installed.
Will speed assistance become an award requirement?
IIHS says it plans to add it, but not yet. It has said the first speed assistance ratings will be issued in 2027 and incorporated into the award after that, and that multiple risky-driving features should join the criteria by 2030 or sooner. Check the criteria for the specific award year.
Did the 2026 changes make awards harder to get?
The criteria tightened, but IIHS reported that 63 vehicles qualified as of March 24, 2026 (45 Top Safety Pick+ and 18 Top Safety Pick), up from 48 at the same point the year before. IIHS also noted that more than 77% of 2026 models tested so far met the acceptable-or-good vehicle-to-vehicle standard. Counts change as more vehicles are tested.
Checklist for reading a rating
- Open the exact model year and variant on both sites, and note any award listed with a model-year range.
- Read each individual rating, not only the overall star score or the award badge.
- Compare frontal results and NHTSA's overall score only among vehicles of similar weight.
- Check the award year's criteria, and whether the front crash prevention is standard on the trim you would buy.
- Look at the headlight rating for your specific trim, since each headlight system gets its own rating.
- Treat checkmarks and any not-yet-active NCAP updates as separate from the stars.
This article is general education about test programs. Crash-test ratings describe results under controlled conditions and do not predict the outcome of any real crash.
Sources
- IIHS, About us
- IIHS, Vehicle ratings
- IIHS, 2026 Top Safety Picks
- IIHS, news release, March 24, 2026
- IIHS, news release, September 3, 2026
- IIHS, news release, September 9, 2025
- IIHS, 2024 award criteria release
- IIHS, 2023 award criteria release
- IIHS, small overlap front test
- IIHS, moderate overlap front test
- IIHS, side test
- IIHS, vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention
- IIHS, pedestrian front crash prevention
- IIHS, headlight evaluation
- NHTSA, ratings lookup
- NHTSA, SafetyRatings data service
- Federal Register, NCAP notice, July 11, 2008
- Federal Register, NCAP final decision, December 3, 2024
- Federal Register, NCAP delay of program updates, September 22, 2025
- Federal Register, NCAP request for comments on removing the fishhook test, August 17, 2026
