The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has bestowed a Top Safety Pick+ award on the redesigned 2020 GLE-Class from Mercedes-Benz. The honor applies to vehicles built after July and outfitted with specific headlights.

The GLE-Class was put through the paces and performed well in a series of six challenging IIHS evaluations capturing good scores across the board.

The six tests included the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests.

However, IIHS engineers don't stop there. To earn plus safety status the Institute demands that vehicles capture an advanced or superior rating for front crash prevention and a good headlight rating.

For crash prevention, the GLE-Class more than measured up. The SUV is equipped with a standard front crash prevention system and is also available with an optional system. Both systems earned superior ratings .

However, the Institute notes that neither system performed flawlessly in its testing. The standard system reduced the vehicle's impact speed by an average of 10 mph in the 12 mph test and by an average of 14 mph in the 25 mph test. The optional system avoided a collision in the 12 mph test and reduced the vehicle's impact speed by an average of 21 mph in the 25 mph test.

Even so, both systems also get an extra boost for their forward collision warning components, which meet the criteria set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, notes the Institute.

Headlights are an area where manufacturers sometimes fall short. That was decidedly not the case with the GLE-Class.

The SUV’s available curve-adaptive LED projector headlights with high-beam assist on vehicles built after July 2019 scored a good rating from IIHS engineers. High-beam assist is a system that automatically switches between high beams and low beams, depending on the presence of other vehicles.

Noteworthy, the SUVs predecessor, the 2019 GLE-Class, previously earned a Top Safety Pick+ award as well.