The Honda Sedan That Earns IIHS’ Top Safety Pick+ Rating For Midsize Cars

The IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award is a coveted award that has become known not only within the car industry but also among car shoppers. The award means that a vehicle is more likely to survive a serious accident in the real world, reassuring buyers that they’re purchasing a car that will protect them. The midsize Honda sedan that has received the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award is the 2025-2026 Honda Accord, part of the Accord’s highly-regarded 11th generation.

The IIHS’ evaluation puts a vehicle through three tests covering different impact types, evaluates how well it can avoid a frontal crash, and tests its headlights. Thus, it covers not just how well a vehicle can hit something and survive, but also how good its safety systems are at avoiding crashes and how good its headlights are at illuminating the road ahead. The Top Safety Pick+ award was started in 2013, while the slightly less stringent Top Safety Pick (without the plus) award has been in effect since 2006.

Honda’s Accord is one of four midsize sedans to receive the award in 2025. The others are the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6, the 2025-26 Hyundai Sonata, and the 2025-26 Toyota Camry.

The IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award requires that the vehicle receive a “Good” rating in the IIHS’ three crash tests. One is the small overlap front crash test, where the Accord did well on overall driver-side evaluation, structure and safety cage, and driver injury measures, with an Acceptable score for driver restraints and dummy kinematics. After that comes the updated moderate overlap front crash test, where the Accord once again received a Good in all of the above categories, with the exception of an Acceptable rating for driver leg and foot injury protection. Finally, there is the updated side crash test, for which the Accord received Good ratings across the board. There was another exception again, with the pelvis injury protection rating dropping to Acceptable.  

Beyond the occupant protection tests, the vehicle must achieve either an Acceptable or a Good rating for the pedestrian front crash prevention test — the Accord received the former here. It must also get an Acceptable or Good rating on the headlight standard test, and the IIHS gave the Accord a Good rating for this test. Thus, the Honda Accord earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award. Other Hondas that have won this award include the 2025-26 Honda Passport in the midsize SUV category and the 2025-26 Honda HR-V in the Small SUV category. 

The Honda Accord comes in six trim levels and two powertrains. One, found on the entry-level trims, is a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 192 hp and mated to a CVT automatic. Upgrading gets you the hybrid drivetrain, consisting of a 2.0-liter inline-4 combined with two electric motors channelled through a direct-drive transmission. Performance testing by Car and Driver revealed that the base turbo engine can do 0-60 mph in 7.3 seconds, while the 204-hp hybrid manages it in 6.7 seconds. The hybrid also reached the quarter-mile in 15.3 seconds at 90 mph.

Pricing for the 2026 Honda Accord starts at $28,395 for the LX trim, plus $1,195 destination and handling fees for a total of $29,590. This gets you the base turbo engine plus features like 17-inch alloy wheels, a self-opening trunk, cloth seats, automatic climate control, wireless phone charging, remote starting, and a four-speaker audio system. 

At the top end of the Accord range, you can opt for the 2026 Honda Accord Touring Hybrid Sedan. It stickers at $39,495 MSRP plus destination, coming out to $40,690. For that extra $11,000, you get niceties such as a Bose sound system, heated steering wheel, heated and ventilated leather front seats, a power moonroof, a head-up display, and 19-inch alloy wheels.