2023 Kia EV6 Earns IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus Award Thanks to Its Improved Headlights

However, some of the earliest 2023 models still require an adjustment to the headlights to qualify for the award.

When the IIHS tested the 2022 Kia EV6 earlier this year, the results showed impressive safety characteristics. Nevertheless, the sea of green was tainted by a red in the headlight evaluation. It turns out that vehicles built before August 2022 were fitted with sub-par headlights. These only scored a poor rating in IIHS’s tests, which cost it the Top Safety Pick+ award.

Kia learned the lesson and fitted the EV6 with improved headlights starting with the latest MY22 vehicles, built from September 2022. The results for the 2023 Kia EV6 tests show that the new headlights are good enough to earn a good rating so that the EV6 could finally receive the coveted prize.

According to IIHS’s standards, good or acceptable headlights must be standard across all trims to earn the Top Safety Pick+ award. The lower tier Top Safety Pick only requires a good or acceptable headlight system to be available at least as an option. The MY22 Kia EV6 built on or before August had none of that, which hurt Kia sales.

With its improved headlights, the Kia EV6 now meets all the criteria for the higher-tier award. The new, good-rated headlights are standard on all trims, as is the front crash prevention system that earns superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and daytime vehicle-to-pedestrian tests. This, together with the good ratings in all six IIHS crashworthiness evaluations, which the EV6 already got, qualified the electric hatchback for the Top Safety Pick+ award.

However, according to the IIHS, some of the earliest 2023 models sold still require an adjustment to the headlights to qualify for the award. Kia has already notified the affected customers, offering to make the adjustment free of charge at its affiliated dealerships.