Both the 2020 Chevrolet Traverse and the 2020 Buick Enclave recently earned good ratings in five rigorous crashworthiness tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Specifically, both vehicles, which are built on the same platform, performed well in the driver-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint evaluations. 

However, neither vehicle was evaluated in the passenger-side small overlap crash test, making them ineligible at the moment for one of the Institute’s Top Safety Pick awards. General Motors is planning to make structural improvements soon to the Traverse, which may affect its performance. Once those changes have been implemented, a passenger-side small overlap evaluation will be conducted, notes IIHS.

In the meantime, the Traverse, a midsize SUV, aced several additional evaluations. It garnered an acceptable rating for its best available headlights — specifically, LED projector headlights. It also captured superior ratings for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention systems.

Not to be outdone, the Enclave also earned superior ratings for its optional vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention systems. However, the Enclave scored just a marginal rating for both of its headlight options.