2026 Tesla Model Y Earns IIHS Top Safety Pick+ — Canada's Best-Selling EV aces the crash tests

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has awarded the redesigned 2026 Tesla Model Y its highest accolade, the Top Safety Pick+ designation — with the rating applying to 2026-27 models, according to the Institute's own rating page for the vehicle. For Canadian buyers, that puts the country's best-selling electric SUV back at the top of the safety heap just as the refreshed model arrives in volume here.

Tesla's North American account announced the award on September 3, and the IIHS rating data confirms what lies behind it: the Model Y was redesigned for the 2026 model year, and its crashworthiness scores were assigned based on tests of a 2026 Model Y conducted by Tesla under the Institute's program.

What the IIHS ratings actually say

The IIHS grades vehicles Good (G), Acceptable (A), Marginal (M) or Poor (P) across crashworthiness, crash avoidance and mitigation, and seat belt categories. For the 2026 Model Y, the redesigned model earned the top grade where it matters most for award qualification:

• Small overlap front (driver-side and passenger-side): Good overall evaluations on both sides.
• Moderate overlap front: Good overall rating in the updated test that added rear-passenger protection criteria.
• Side impact (updated test): Good overall evaluation.
• Front crash prevention (vehicle-to-vehicle): Good with the standard system.
• Headlights: Good-rated LED projector headlight variations, which the IIHS requires across trims for the "+" award.

The one Marginal rating

The scorecard is not perfect. The Model Y's seat belt reminders — a category the IIHS scores but does not include in award criteria — received a Marginal rating, applying to 2026-27 models. It's the kind of detail a safety-focused shopper notices: the reminder system that nudges occupants to buckle up is the weakest mark on an otherwise top-tier card.

To earn Top Safety Pick+ under the current criteria, a vehicle needs good ratings in the small overlap front and side tests, an acceptable-or-good pedestrian front crash prevention evaluation, acceptable-or-good headlights across all trims, and — the bar that separates the "plus" — a good rating in the moderate overlap front test. The Model Y met the full set.

Why it matters in Canada

The Model Y has been Canada's top-selling battery-electric vehicle, and the award lands amid a season of mixed safety news for Tesla's lineup. An NHTSA investigation into Model 3 and Model Y suspension remains open, and Tesla recalled 19 Model Y vehicles in the U.S. this week for a front suspension fastener issue. The IIHS crashworthiness results are a separate question from those investigations — they measure occupant protection in the Institute's standardized tests, and on that measure the redesigned SUV scores at the top of the scale.

Canadian pricing for the 2026 Model Y starts well under the luxury-SUV tax bracket the IIHS technically classes it in ("midsize luxury SUV"), which has always been part of the Model Y's value story. A top safety rating on top of that is the kind of combination insurance-minded buyers — and parents — weigh heavily. Crash-test ratings from the IIHS are accepted by Canadian insurers as a safety signal, even though the Institute is a U.S. body.

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