Two small cars from Honda, and both redesigned, recently garnered Top Safety Pick+ awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  The coveted safety seal of approval goes to the 2022 Honda Civic sedan and Honda Civic hatchback. 

To earn the prestigious award both cars were put through the paces by IIHS engineers. They performed well, earning good scores across the board in six challenging crashworthiness tests. These included the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests. 

But the exacting evaluations did not end there. To capture “plus” status, vehicles must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. 

Fortunately, both the Civic sedan and hatchback feature a new, standard front crash prevention system that earns superior ratings in both evaluations. 

Even so, earning the “plus” award requires one final element: Vehicles must come with good or acceptable headlights across all trims. Here again, both Civic models measured up to the demanding safety standards of IIHS by offering good-rated headlights standard on all trims.