Minivans Fall Behind the Pack When it Comes to Protecting Rear Seat Occupants

The vehicles designed for and marketed most directly at families may not be the best at protecting them, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The independent, American vehicle safety organization released the results of its updated crash testing for 2025 and not a single minivan, small pickup, large car or mini car earned the organization’s top safety award.

Industry wide, fewer vehicles earned either the Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ award this year due to the introduction of tougher testing intended to rate vehicles on their ability to protect rear seat passengers. Just 48 models earned the accolade this year, as compared to 71 at this time last year.

The IIHS’s new test adds a dummy designed to resemble a 12-year-old child in the second row, behind the driver’s seat. The test was designed to encourage automakers to apply safety gains made for front seat occupants to those in rear seats, where safety improvements have been slower — despite this, the organization reminds drivers that the rear seat is still the safest place for occupants under the age of 13, no matter the vehicle.

Although the IIHS started crash testing with a rear seat dummy in 2022, this is the first year that it is including the results of the test when determining whether a new vehicle qualifies for its Top Safety Pick award. It argued that the stepped process was necessary give automakers some time to learn about and react to the results of this new crash test.

The IIHS writes that automakers have been working hard, and have already made significant progress in improving safety in the second row. In fact, 60 per cent of all models tested now earn an “acceptable” or “good” rating in the new test. Unfortunately, the improvements are not evenly distributed across all vehicle body styles, according to David Harkey, IIHS president.

“The new emphasis on back seat protection appears to have winnowed minivans and pickups from the winners’ ranks,” Harkey said. “That’s unfortunate, considering that minivans are marketed as family haulers and extended cab and crew cab pickups are often used for that purpose.”

The good news is that the vehicle styles that are most popular in North America, SUVs and crossovers, have performed well in the test and have earned the lion’s share of Top Safety Pick (and the even higher Top Safety Pick+) awards.

Among this year’s best-performing vehicles, eight are small SUVs, nine are midsize SUVs, eight are midsize luxury SUVs, and three are large SUVs. As a result, the body style accounts for 28 out of the 36 vehicles awarded the Top Safety Pick+ award (the full list of winners can be found below). They also account for eight of the 12 vehicles given the Top Safety Pick award.

Naturally, SUVs aren’t the only vehicles to shop for if you’re interested in protecting rear seat occupants. Three small cars (the Honda Civic hatchback, Mazda3 hatchback, and Mazda3 sedan), three midsize cars (the Honda Accord, Hyundai Ioniq 6, and Toyota Camry), as well as one midsize luxury car (the Mercedes-Benz C-Class) earned the IIHS’s highest safety rating. A single large pickup truck (the Toyota Tundra crew cab) was also awarded the Top Safety Pick+ rating. Meanwhile, the Acura Integra, Honda Civic sedan, and Genesis G90 were among the cars awarded the Top Safety Pick award, and the Rivian R1T (which the IIHS categorizes as a large pickup) also earned the accolade.

2025 IIHS Top Safety Pick+

2025 Top Safety Pick