New Toyota Grand Highlander falls short of IIHS award

The 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander, a new midsize SUV, falls short in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s driver-side small overlap front crash test, a requirement for a Top Safety Pick award.

The Grand Highlander earns an acceptable rating in the evaluation, but a good rating in this test as well as three other crashworthiness evaluations is required for a vehicle to be eligible for the accolade.

In the driver-side small overlap test, the safety cage protecting the driver was somewhat compromised. In addition, the driver dummy’s head rolled off the left side of the front airbag toward the gap in coverage between it and the side curtain airbag during the crash.

Aside from this test, the Grand Highlander performed well in the Institute’s crashworthiness and crash prevention evaluations. It earns good ratings in the passenger-side small overlap front, original moderate overlap front and updated side tests. The standard crash avoidance system earns superior ratings in both the daytime and nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention evaluations, and all trims are equipped with acceptable-rated LED projector headlights.