The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has announced that that the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz has earned its second highest safety rating, Top Safety Pick, when it’s equipped with certain headlights.
To qualify for the Top Safety Pick award, a vehicle has to earn good ratings in all six IIHS crashworthiness tests, including the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength and head restraint tests. It must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations.
The Santa Cruz earned the good rating in all six tests and both of its standard and optional front crash prevention systems earned a superior rating. The reason that the Santa Cruz did not earn the higher Top Safety Pick+ rating is due to its headlights.
For the Top Safety Pick award there has to be at least one good or acceptable headlight system must be available. For the “plus,” good or acceptable headlights must be standard across all trims. The Santa Cruz’s base halogens earned a poor rating, while the LED projector headlights available on the SEL Premium and Limited trim levels earned a good rating.
