The 2020 Toyota Highlander has received the second highest safety rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Top Safety Pick award. The IIHS is quick to point out that it only receives the award when its equipped with specific headlights, but the Highlander’s headlights also made it miss out on the higher Top Safety Pick+ rating.

2020 Toyota Highlander

To receive the 2020 Top Safety Pick award a vehicle must earn good ratings in six crashworthiness tests, including the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests. It also needs advanced or superior ratings for both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention, as well as an acceptable or good headlight rating.

The 2020 Highlander received a good rating in all six of the tests and its front crash prevention system earned a superior rating.

2020 Toyota Highlander

The Highlander is available with three headlight options. The base headlights with static LED reflectors earned a poor rating, while the available curve-adaptive LED projector headlights earned a good rating. The static LED projector headlights that are standard on the Limited and Hybrid Limited trim levels earned an acceptable rating. If the base headlights hadn’t received a poor rating, the Highlander would have received the higher Top Safety Pick+ rating.