The full-electric 2026 Hyundai Ionic 9 is one of 18 three-row SUVs earning top scores from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
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With summer approaching and July 4 marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, the number of vacationers hitting the road is expected to skyrocket. According to Hilton Hotels’ 2026 Trends Report, 71% of Americans plan to travel via highways and byways in the months ahead. Of that number, 76% say they prefer a road trip to airline travel because it “allows for more spontaneity.”
But the flexibility to go where and when one wants to without having to deal with airport security lines, flight delays and cancellations is not without an added element of risk. Despite roadway fatalities steadily dropping since a pandemic-period peak in 2021, the National Highway Safety Administration reports that an estimated 36,600 Americans lost their lives in vehicle crashes last year.
For many travelers, that makes it imperative to ensure this summer’s family excursions take place in one of the safest vehicles on the road, especially with regard to passenger protection and accident-avoidance technology.
To that end, as it has since 2006, the industry-supported Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently issued its list of Top Safety Picks, including an impressive array of seven-passenger models. The IIHS ranks vehicles according to their crashworthiness, forward emergency braking performance and headlight performance, among other factors. However, what are arguably the ideal family rides—minivans—are missing from this year’s safest vehicle lists altogether.
As the IIHS continues to tweak its ratings criteria, popular minivans including the popular Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna provided insufficient rear-seat-rider protection in its updated moderate overlap crash-test protocol. None achieved a top Good or even a second-best Acceptable rating in this regard. For 2026, a Good rating in this specific test is required for a vehicle to be cited for safety.
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“This year, we’re asking automakers to make excellent protection for back seat passengers the norm,” explains IIHS president David Harkey. “It’s disappointing that minivans continue to struggle to provide the best-available protection for passengers in the back, considering that these are supposed to be family vehicles.”
Fortunately, the IIHS has given 18 three-row midsize and full-size mainstream and luxury SUVs Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ status for 2026.
All can seat up to seven passengers and offer a full array of comfort and convenience features to help make even the most grueling road trips more enjoyable. These include back-seat media systems to help keep the kiddies entertained, panoramic sunroofs, heated and cooled seats and sophisticated infotainment arrays. This is, of course, in addition to a full range of the latest accident-avoidance features that can help protect one’s most precious cargo en route.
This year, the IIHS has singled out four full-electric SUVs—the Hyundai Ioniq 9, Kia EV9, Rivian R1S and the Volvo EX90—for those seeking both a safer means of family transport and one that’s more economical to run, especially with gas prices at their lofty levels.
To become a Top Safety Pick in the IIHS’ rigorous ratings system, a given model must earn top Good scores in its small- and moderate-overlap front and side-impact crash tests and Good or Acceptable results for headlight performance and pedestrian front-crash prevention. Award recipients must now also include highly-rated forward emergency automatic braking systems as standard equipment.
To further achieve Top Safety Pick+ status, a vehicle must achieve a Good pedestrian protection ranking, or an Acceptable or Good score in vehicle-to-vehicle front crash performance.
For better or worse, the IIHS tends to concentrates its testing efforts on the industry’s best-selling vehicles, which tends leave out low-volume luxury models at the upper end of the price spectrum. What’s more, some new or fully redesigned SUVs may not yet have been put through their paces; ratings are updated on an ongoing basis.
The full lists of the IIHS’ safety awards and overall ratings for all vehicle classes from current or previous model years can be found here.
Also, be aware that the laws of physics dictate that frontal crash-test results can only be accurately compared among same-size vehicles. This means a top-rated compact passenger car will not necessarily offer the same level of occupant protection as a larger and heavier SUV in a given collision. Side-impact tests, on the other hand, can be readily compared across vehicle size and weight classifications due to the manner in which they are conducted.
These are the 18 seven-passenger SUVs designated as either an IIHS Top Safety Pick (TSP) or Top Safety Pick+ (TSP+) for 2026:
Source: IIHS.
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