The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently recognized the 2023 Honda Pilot with its highest safety honor — the coveted Top Safety Pick+ award. The mid-size SUV’s award follows on the heels of six other Honda models that have received Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ accolades, bringing the automaker’s total to seven awards.

The Honda Pilot was put through the paces, undergoing four rigorous crashworthiness tests — the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, updated side, and original moderate overlap front tests — acing each once and earning good scores across the board, which is a requirement for the top honor.

Moreover, to take home “plus” status vehicles must offer a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the daytime and nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. The Pilot’s Collision Mitigation Braking SystemTM (CMBSTM) with Pedestrian Detection garnered superior ratings from IIHS engineers in both tests and comes standard on all 2023 Pilot models.

Finally, acceptable or good headlights must be standard across all trims in order to roll away with Top Safety Pick+ recognition. In the case of the Pilot, good-rated headlights are supplied on all trims — giving the vehicle the final element needed to earn the highest award.

Better Body Design, Airbag Technology

According to the manufacturer, all 2023 Pilot models are equipped with the Honda Sensing suite of safety and driver-assistive technologies. In addition to the CMBS front crash prevention system, the suite includes Forward Collision Warning; Road Departure Mitigation (RDM) incorporating Lane Departure Warning (LDW); Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS); and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). Honda Sensing is now standard on all new Honda models, found on over 6 million Honda vehicles on the nation’s roads today.

For the all-new 2023 Honda Pilot, Honda engineers also enhanced the body design and applied sophisticated Honda airbag technology — two more ways to increase safety and protect occupants, especially in frontal collisions.

In addition to the Honda Pilot, the four other 2023 models that earned Top Safety Pick + awards previously include Honda Accord, Honda CR-V, Honda HR-V, and Honda Odyssey. The 2023 Honda Civic Hatchback and the 2023 Honda Civic Sedan both earned the second-tier award, Top Safety Pick.