Toyota's 2019 RAV4 Grabs Top Safety Award

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has given the Top Safety Pick+ award to the 2019 Toyota RAV4 when the compact SUV is outfitted with curve-adaptive LED projector headlights.

The 2019 RAV4, which has been redesigned for 2019, aced a series of painstaking crashworthiness evaluations — earning good ratings across the board. These included the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength, and head restraint tests.

To capture Top Safety Pick+ status, a vehicle must also score an advanced or superior rating for front crash prevention as well as a good headlight rating.

The RAV4 did not disappoint. After preventing collisions in 12 and 25 mph track tests, IIHS engineers gave the SUV's standard front crash prevention system a superior rating.

While three headlight options are available, it's the RAV4’s curve-adaptive LED projector headlights, which are available as an option only on the RAV4's Hybrid Limited trim, that garnered a good rating — giving the vehicle the final element required for plus recognition.

The RAV4's other available headlights — LED reflectors and static LED projectors — earn a marginal and poor rating, notes the IIHS.

The RAV4 is the fourth model from Toyota and its luxury brand, Lexus, to earn a 2019 Top Safety Pick+ award.