2023 Honda Pilot Earns Highest-Possible Safety Award

The fully redesigned 2023 Honda Pilot has gone through the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) tests and comes out with a Top Safety Pick+ award, the highest-possible safety award that the IIHS can bestow onto a vehicle. The designation is a large improvement over the previous model year, which failed to earn a safety award from the organization.

In the IIHS’ crash tests, the 2023 Pilot did well enough to earn a rating of Good in the small overlap front tests, the original moderate overlap front test, and the updated side test. The SUV’s headlights earned a rating of Good, while the Pilot’s front crash prevention systems were found to be Superior. These are large upgrades over the 2022 Pilot, which earned an Acceptable rating in the passenger-side small overlap front test, a Marginal score in the updated side test, and came with standard headlights that earned an Acceptable rating.

Where the 2023 Pilot sees the largest improvement in crash-testing is when it comes to the IIHS’ updated moderate overlap front test. Last year’s Pilot earned a Poor rating, the lowest score possible, in the test. The redesigned 2023 Pilot did well enough to earn a rating of Marginal. That means the new Pilot is much safer than the previous model for passengers in the back of the SUV in the instance of a front crash.

With the Top Safety Pick+ safety award, the 2023 Honda Pilot becomes one of the safer three-row midsize SUVs in the segment. The Pilot joins the Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride, Nissan Pathfinder, Subaru Ascent, and Toyota Highlander as the only mainstream midsize SUVs to earn the organization’s highest safety rating. The Ford Explorer and Mazda CX-9 earned a Top Safety Pick award.

Pictured: 2023 Honda Pilot

Source: IIHS (Source 1, Source 2)

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