While it isn't fun or flashy, it's always paramount to consider safety when searching for a new vehicle. A safe car is one of those things you'll only wish you had when you need it, so it's best to prepare for those unfortunate situations by buying something with solid safety scores ahead of time, even if you hope to never use the safety features. It's not like we plan to crash, but it still happens. While bigger is usually better, in this case, often you just need to grab the best car within your budget, and for many buyers, that's something in the competitive compact car segment.These are vehicles that live in the $20,000-$30,000 range, and for the 2026 model year, only three models have achieved one of the most coveted safety awards in the industry - the Top Safety Pick+ Award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). These three models are the Nissan Sentra, the Mazda 3 Hatchback, and the Mazda 3 Sedan. These vehicles displayed exemplary results in a wide range of safety tests, and their success in winning the stringent safety award is a testament to the hard work their automakers put in to ensure their products exceed expectations.We take a look at the award criteria, the models that won, and why they had so much success while others didn't. Note: the 2026 Kia K4 is also the recipient of a Top Safety Pick+ award, but that car is classified as a subcompact sedan and thus doesn't fall into the segment we are discussing here. What Is the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ Award? IIHS Logo bigThe IIHS is one of two major organizations that test the safety of vehicles sold in the United States (the other being the NHTSA). It's a private non-profit funded by the insurance industry. The insurance industry has much to gain from safer vehicles. Founded in 1959, its first few decades focused on improving road safety and researching and understanding the factors behind accidents. Crash testing arrived in 1992 when the organization opened its own facility for the job in Virginia, and by 1995, the first crash test ratings were released. Since then, the company has adapted many of its tests and, in 2025, the organization maintains ratings on eight tests: Small Overlap Front Test Moderate Overlap Front Test Side Impact Test Headlight Test Front Crash Prevention: Vehicle-To-Vehicle Test Front Crash Prevention: Pedestrian Test Seat Belt Reminder Test Child Seat Latch Test These cover a wide range of safety issues, from outright crash protection to crash avoidance and beyond, to ensure buyers have the most comprehensive idea of a vehicle's overall safety. However, not all of them factor into the major tests, and if you're looking for the institute's Top Safety Pick+ award, a vehicle will need to score as follows: Good rating in the small overlap front test Good rating in the updated moderate overlap front test Good rating in the updated side test Acceptable or good headlights standard Acceptable or good in the pedestrian front crash-prevention test A vehicle can rank on four different levels - Good, Acceptable, Marginal, or Poor - so winning the top award means nearly top marks across the board. It's a difficult one to achieve because the standards for a few of these tests are well above what is required by law, so if a vehicle meets them, it is going above and beyond what is expected by the US government. Additionally, the latest criteria are more stringent compared to 2024, because last year an Acceptable rating in the updated moderate overlap front test could still win the award. 2026 Nissan Sentra 2026 Nissan Sentra--2With a starting price of just $22,600 for 2026, the Nissan Sentra offers a value-packed buy. And, for this year, it also comes with a new aesthetic that elevates it from rental-car looks to a sleek, modern car even youngsters wouldn't object to being seen in. For the price point, buyers get loads of standard tech and features alongside improved ride quality. And the familiar four-cylinder under the hood has been around long enough to tick the boxes for proven reliability.The IIHS awarded the Top Safety Pick +title to the new Sentra with only one less-than-perfect score across all of its tests. The standard automatic emergency braking test earned an 'Acceptable' rating while every other evaluation scored perfectly. All models in the lineup come with intelligent forward collision warning, pedestrian detection, rear cross-traffic alert, brake assist, traffic sign recognition, blind-spot warning, and lane departure warning. Top-spec models add to that with ProPILOT assist hands-on active lane centering and cruise control, driver assist, extensive park assist features, and more. 2026 Mazda 3 Hatchback 2025 Mazda 3 Hatchback Red Front Angled ViewThe Mazda 3 Hatchback is the first of the two Mazda models on this list, and it's currently one of the most stylish and engaging compact models on the market. The brand has worked hard to push itself upmarket in recent years, with great fit and finish, materials, and modern, minimalist designs. However, prices stayed under control, and you can find yourself in a hatchback Mazda 3 with plenty of standard features, respectable horsepower, and a Top Safety Pick+ award for just $25,550.Like Honda, Mazda has its own standard safety suite called I-Activesense, created around the Japanese philosophy of Jinba Ittai, which aims to create a oneness between the car and the driver. It has features like automatic emergency braking, blind-spot and lane monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and much more. Paired with the car's SKYACTIV-body and advanced restraint and airbag technology, the hatchback does an excellent job protecting its passengers, giving you another reason to consider one of the best compact cars on the market. 2026 Mazda 3 Sedan 2025 Mazda 3 Sedan Black Front Angled View DrivingIt almost feels like cheating to consider this another model, but according to the US government, it is. The Mazda 3 Sedan is the perfect option for those who prefer a more conventional three-box sedan shape for their vehicles. It's still very attractive, with the same sleek looks as its hatchback sibling, and it comes in a tad cheaper, only starting at $24,550 for 2026.Part of this is likely due to the car lacking a manual transmission option, but don't think just because it's cheaper, it's any less safe. Both body styles earning the award is a major success for Mazda, which still doesn't always get the recognition its Japanese contemporaries do. Even better, this is the second year in a row that both of these vehicles have won this award, and they haven't had a major refresh in years, going to show Mazda is thinking far in advance when it comes to its designs. What These Three Have That Others Don't 2026 Nissan Sentra SR front 3/4Achieving the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award is no small feat, but it's important to note there are a couple of caveats to these wins. First, the tests are constantly updated and evolving, so a vehicle that won a test one year might not win the next, but that doesn't mean they've suddenly become less safe in the timeframe, just that the criteria have become stricter. Additionally, the IIHS doesn't have the time or the personnel to test every vehicle every year, so just because a vehicle doesn't win an award doesn't mean it isn't deserving of one.More importantly, there's no better safety than physics. At the end of the day, engineering can only do so much when an out-of-control 16-wheeler is bearing down on your tiny compact car, and in those situations, conventional wisdom and the IIHS have said you want a larger vehicle. We know this isn't always an option, and the data is starting to contradict this claim, but what it means for these tests is that sometimes a larger vehicle that earns a lower crash rating is still safer than a smaller vehicle that has a higher rating. Safety is a complicated business, but overall, we're on the right track.Case in point, the 2025 Honda Civic Hatchback won the Top Safety Pick+ award last year - and the Sedan for the year before - but not this year, yet it's still undoubtedly a safe vehicle. While this may skew things, it's best to know that, today, all vehicles on sale are pretty safe, and that the eight criteria the IIHS tests for do not represent the whole story. However, they are a good start, and these two super-safe compacts ace them.