IIHS to require ISA, impairment tech for Top Safety Pick+
IIHS raises Top Safety Pick+ bar with ISA and impairment detection
IIHS to require ISA, impairment tech for Top Safety Pick+
IIHS will tighten Top Safety Pick+: ISA in 2027 and impairment detection by 2030, expanding ratings to active safety and driver monitoring standards.
2025-09-12T08:19:00+03:00
2025-09-12T08:19:00+03:00
2025-09-12T08:19:00+03:00
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS, is an independent, nonprofit research organization that evaluates the safety of most passenger cars and trucks on the market. Its mission is to reduce deaths, injuries, and property damage from motor-vehicle crashes through research and ratings.IIHS continually introduces new, tougher tests and safety criteria to assess and rank new vehicles within its rating system. Models that perform best across a broad slate of evaluations earn the Top Safety Pick+ award. Automakers are not obligated to follow IIHS guidance, yet most aim to launch new vehicles that fare well in IIHS testing, and Top Safety Pick+ has become a prize worth chasing—pressure that, in practice, tends to nudge designs toward stronger real-world protection.This week, IIHS said it will tighten the bar for that award in 2027 by requiring Top Safety Pick+ winners to include intelligent speed assistance (ISA), a feature that detects when drivers are exceeding the limit and issues alerts. The plan also calls for Top Safety Pick+ recipients by 2030, or sooner, to be equipped with impairment-detection technology that monitors driver intoxication and prevents driving when blood alcohol concentration is 0.08% or higher. The direction is clear: the benchmark is expanding from crashworthiness alone to a broader expectation of active safeguards and driver monitoring.
IIHS, Top Safety Pick+, intelligent speed assistance, ISA, impairment detection, driver monitoring, DUI detection, 2027, 2030, safety ratings, active safety, automotive safety, crashworthiness
2025
Michael Powers
news
IIHS raises Top Safety Pick+ bar with ISA and impairment detection
IIHS will tighten Top Safety Pick+: ISA in 2027 and impairment detection by 2030, expanding ratings to active safety and driver monitoring standards.
Michael Powers, Editor
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS, is an independent, nonprofit research organization that evaluates the safety of most passenger cars and trucks on the market. Its mission is to reduce deaths, injuries, and property damage from motor-vehicle crashes through research and ratings.
IIHS continually introduces new, tougher tests and safety criteria to assess and rank new vehicles within its rating system. Models that perform best across a broad slate of evaluations earn the Top Safety Pick+ award. Automakers are not obligated to follow IIHS guidance, yet most aim to launch new vehicles that fare well in IIHS testing, and Top Safety Pick+ has become a prize worth chasing—pressure that, in practice, tends to nudge designs toward stronger real-world protection.
This week, IIHS said it will tighten the bar for that award in 2027 by requiring Top Safety Pick+ winners to include intelligent speed assistance (ISA), a feature that detects when drivers are exceeding the limit and issues alerts. The plan also calls for Top Safety Pick+ recipients by 2030, or sooner, to be equipped with impairment-detection technology that monitors driver intoxication and prevents driving when blood alcohol concentration is 0.08% or higher. The direction is clear: the benchmark is expanding from crashworthiness alone to a broader expectation of active safeguards and driver monitoring.
