The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has bestowed its highest safety accolade on the 2022-23 Mercedes-Benz C-Class. The midsize luxury car recently rolled away with a prestigious Top Safety Pick+ award.

The C-Class underwent six challenging crashworthiness tests and aced all of them, earning good scores across the board. These included the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength and head restraint tests.

But IIHS engineers expect even more. To earn “plus” status, vehicles must also come with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and daytime vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations.

The C-Class measures up. Its standard Active Brake Assist front crash prevention system earns a superior rating in the vehicle-to-vehicle evaluation and an advanced rating in the daytime vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluation, while the optional Active Brake Assist with Cross-Traffic Function earns superior ratings in both tests.

Headlights are another element that IIHS engineers take very seriously. In order to garner the highest-tier safety recognition, good or acceptable headlights must be standard across all trims.

Here again, the C-Class did not disappoint. Its standard static LED headlights earn a good rating, while the optional curve-adaptive headlights supplied with the Digital Light Package are rated acceptable.

The C-Class rolled away with an A+ for safety!