2021 Volvo XC40 Recharge crowned a Top Safety Pick Plus

No other automaker has built its reputation on safety quite like Volvo. After all, this is the company that invented the three-point seatbelt, integrated boosters for children and side-impact airbags, to name a few of its groundbreaking innovations. Given this heritage of safety, it should be no surprise the 2021 Volvo XC40 Recharge all-electric SUV aced a series of grueling tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

On Thursday, IIHS gave this battery-powered family hauler a Top Safety Pick Plus rating, the highest score it hands out. To drive away with this eminently desirable grade a vehicle must perform well, earn a rating of “good” in the organization’s six primary crash tests: driver- and passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraints. 

Easy, right? Wrong! In addition to all that, a car or truck must also offer vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian crash-prevention technology that’s rated either “advanced” or “superior” and every model must be fitted with headlights that are either “good” or “acceptable,” which is no small feat. In fact, that last item is what kept the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV
out of the running for a Top Safety Pick Plus award. Regrettably, it’s only a Top Safety Pick, still an enviable score to be certain, but the standard headlights cost it a win.

Unlike its blue-oval rival, every version of this Volvo is equipped with curve-adaptive LED headlights, lamp assemblies that earned a “good” score from IIHS. The vehicle is also fitted with crash-prevention technology that meets or exceeds the required standard.

The Volvo XC40 is extremely safe, but it’s not the only EV to earn a Top Safety Pick Plus score. IIHS recently awarded the same accolade to the Audi E-Tron and E-Tron Sportback as well as the Tesla Model 3 sedan, proving you don’t have to go to Sweden to get an extremely safe electric car.