The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has bestowed its greatest safety recognition on the 2021 Genesis G80. The large luxury car recently rolled away with a coveted Top Safety Pick+ award. 

First the G80 underwent six crashworthiness tests — acing each one. These included the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests.

But IIHS engineers carefully assessed the car’s front crash prevention system, too. To garner “plus” status vehicles must earn advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. 

Here again, the G80 more than measured up, scoring superior ratings in both evaluations. In the vehicle-to-vehicle test, it avoided collisions at both 12 and 25 mph. In the vehicle-to-pedestrian test, it avoided hitting the pedestrian dummy or slowed substantially to mitigate the force of impact at low and higher speeds in all three scenarios designed to simulate common pedestrian crashes.

Finally, the G80’s headlights underwent intense scrutiny. Many vehicles fall short in the IIHS headlight evaluation — but not the G80. The car shone bright in this category, too, with LED projector headlights that earn an acceptable rating and comes as standard equipment on all trims.