The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has advanced BMW's 2018 X2 luxury crossover built after July that offer improved head restraints and optional front crash prevention to a higher safety award level.

The new Top Safety Pick recognition was earned when the automaker changed the head restraints on the car. Previously the X2 head restraints fell short, garnering just an acceptable rating — a rarity that only five other 2018 models also scored, while 182 tested modes earned a good rating from IIHS.

In addition to the replacement head restraints boosting the car's head restraint rating from acceptable to good, the X2 fared well in four other critical crashworthiness tests.

The car captured good ratings in the driver-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, and roof strength tests. The X2 offers a front crash prevention system as well as acceptable headlights. Taken together, all of these features and scores make the model an IIHS Top Safety Pick.

The X2 also earned a good rating in the passenger-side small overlap test, notes IIHS.