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Two all-electric vehicles and one hydrogen fuel cell vehicle recently earned the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety's highest award, the Top Safety Pick+.
These include the Audi e-tron, the Tesla Model 3 and the Hyundai Nexo.
In order to earn an IIHS 2019 Top Safety Pick+ award, a vehicle must have good ratings in
all of our crash tests, be available with a headlight system that also rates good and
a front crash prevention system that earns an advanced or superior rating.
The structure of the Tesla Model 3 held up reasonably well in our
driver-side small overlap crash test.
The only indication of an injury risk was a slightly elevated force on the dummy's
lower leg. Overall, the Tesla Model 3 earned a good rating in this test.
The Hyundai Nexo, is the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to ever win
an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award.
The Chevrolet Bolt was rated acceptable for passenger protection in the small overlap
crash test.
The structure didn't hold up quite well enough for the highest rating, plus during
the test we observed that the dummy's head moved into a gap between the front airbag
and the curtain and almost contacted the instrument panel directly.
For these reasons, it didn't earn the highest rating.
It is disqualified from earning an award because its only available headlight system is rated
poor in our tests, primarily for causing glare to oncoming drivers.
Our recent evaluations show that some vehicles with a low carbon footprint
also offer state-of-the-art safety.