Volvo S60 Snags Top Safety Pick+ Award

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has recognized the 2020 Volvo S60 with its highest honor, a Top Safety Pick+ award, when the compact sedan is equipped with its optional curve-adaptive headlights.

The S60 met all the criteria for plus status. First, it garnered good ratings in the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength, and head restraint tests.

Vehicles must also score an advanced or superior rating for vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention.

The S60 met the mark. The sedan comes standard with a superior-rated vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system. In track tests, the system avoided a collision with a fixed object representing the rear of another vehicle in the 12 mph test, and it reduced its impact speed by an average of 22 mph in the 25 mph test.

A good headlight rating is also critical for earning the prestigious award. The S60's optional curve-adaptive LED reflector headlights improved to a good rating on vehicles built after May. The same headlights on models built earlier rate only marginal, according to IIHS.

While pedestrian front crash prevention does not presently factor into 2019 safety award criteria, the S60 has been evaluated by IIHS engineers and earned a superior rating for its standard system.