The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has given a Top Safety Pick award to Mazda's 2019 Mazda6, when the car is equipped with specific headlights.

The Mazda6 underwent a series of rigorous crashworthiness evaluations and performed well across the board. It scored good ratings in six key tests. These included the driver-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength, head restraint tests, and passenger-side small overlap front test.

The Mazda6 also comes with a standard superior-rated front crash prevention system—one that more than qualifies the car for the award. The IIHS notes that the vehicle avoided a collision in the 12 mph track test and reduced its speed by 24 mph in the 25 mph test. 

To capture a Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must also offer a good or acceptable headlight rating. The midsize car is available with two headlight options. Its optional curve-adaptive LED projector headlights, which come on several premium trim lines, earn an acceptable rating in IIHS evaluations — allowing it to attain Top Safety Pick status.

However, the Mazda 6's base headlights, which are static LED projectors, earn only a marginal rating because they provided inadequate visibility in several testing scenarios.

Four other Mazda models have earned Top Safety Pick recognition, while the CX-5 captured the higher-tier Top Safety Pick+ award, notes IIHS.