2019 Hyundai Veloster now a Top Safety Pick after door issue resolved

The 2019 Hyundai Veloster compact hatchback has just been given a Top Safety Pick award from the IIHS. The organization had crash tested the car before, and it had high test scores, but the driver door unlatched in a side impact, increasing the chance of the occupant being ejected. Hyundai redesigned the driver door, and a fresh test showed the fix worked. In addition, Hyundai improved the headlights on all the Turbo models, bringing the rating up to "Acceptable." These changes allowed IIHS to give the award to the car.

The improved driver door is found in all Velosters built after January. And for owners of Velosters built before then, Hyundai will be sending out recall notices to have the doors updated. Hyundai won't be updating or upgrading anyone's headlights though, and IIHS notes that only Veloster Turbo models built after August 2018 have "Acceptable" headlights, and Turbo models built before then have lights rated as "Poor" for excessive glare. The non-turbo models of all years have headlights rated as "Poor," mainly for glare, but also low visibility in some situations.

Regardless of trim, the Hyundai Veloster does earn the highest "Good" rating in all crash tests, including the difficult passenger-side small overlap test. Automatic emergency braking also earned high marks for stopping the car ahead of a collision even at 25 mph. The IIHS didn't find the warning part of the system good enough on the base forward collision prevention system, though. Child seat LATCH anchor access was also rated as "Acceptable."