The 5 Smallest Cars That Still Get IIHS Top Safety Pick RatingsJalopnikCharles KromeTue, September 22, 2026 at 9:25 AM UTCAdd us on GoogleJetcityimage/Getty ImagesGas prices are hitting record highs, average new-car prices set their own records in June at $51,974 (via Automotive News), and average monthly car payments also marked a new peak this year. This is enough to get more new-car shoppers thinking about buying small cars. But even then, they still have to wonder if someone else's large vehicle could kill them in a crash.Now, there's no fighting physics, which means that, generally speaking, smaller/lighter vehicles are going to get the worst of it in collisions with bigger/heavier ones. That's why small-car shoppers may want to check out 2026 models that received Top Safety Pick ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). It shouldn't be too tough, either, since there are only eight of them for 2026: Honda Civic (hatchback only), Hyundai Elantra, Kia K4, Mazda 3 (hatchback and sedan), Nissan Sentra, Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid (we'll explain later), and Toyota Prius.These machines qualify by scoring Good ratings in the IIHS crash tests for small and moderate frontal-overlap impacts, as well as for side impacts. They also all scored the necessary Good or Acceptable ratings for their standard headlights and standard pedestrian front-crash prevention tech. Understandably, though, most of the cars here qualified for Top Safety Pick+ honors by getting a Good grade in their pedestrian systems and an Acceptable/Good mark for vehicle-to-vehicle front-crash prevention. We then narrowed things down to the five very smallest options by length, ranking them from longest to shortest. Note that the largest compact cars on our list, the Elantra and K4, earned both Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ ratings, respectively.AdvertisementAdvertisementRead more: These Are The Deadliest Cars On The Road2026 Nissan SentraIIHS/YouTubeThe 2026 Nissan Sentra looks more appealing than ever thanks to its recent redesign, but that wasn't the only change for the better. After last earning a Top Safety Pick in 2022, the Sentra was once again honored by the IIHS, this time also meeting the criteria for the added "+" designation. IIHS gave the Sentra an Acceptable rating for its standard V2V front crash-prevention system, and the car aced all the other tests, including the ones for child-seat usage.What likely helped here is that, as part of the car's redesign, Nissan engineers made it a point to significantly reinforce its underlying unibody structure. The Sentra's upgrades for 2026 didn't stop there, either. Blind-spot intervention is newly standard, joining adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning/prevention, and a driver-attention monitor on the car's list of standard features.Another thing boosting the Sentra's appeal is that its dimensions — 183.3 inches in length — are complemented by an especially high-value MSRP. In this case, it's $23,845 with destination included. Only the slightly larger Kia K4 is marginally less expensive. Kia stickers its 185.4-inch sedan at $22,290 with its own $1,245 destination charge.2026 Toyota PriusToyotaOn the right tires, the Toyota Prius is almost as much fun to drive as a Volkswagen GTI — but it helps make up for any dynamic disadvantages with a Top Safety Pick+ rating that the GTI can't match. Meanwhile, most all cars will have trouble matching the Prius' EPA line of 57 mpg city/56 mpg highway/57 mpg combined. As for the safety department, the Prius — stretching 181.1 inches — is all Good, with just a single Acceptable rating — for its headlights. To be clear, the Prius even took home Good marks for its rear-seat reminder and LATCH setup. The Prius also packs a particularly impressive list of standard ADAS tech that includes Toyota's Proactive Driving Assist for semi-autonomous travel.AdvertisementAdvertisementOne thing to keep in mind, however, is that Toyota no longer calls the Prius PHEV the Prime model. The automaker now lumps all Prii under the same nameplate regardless of powertrain, and the IIHS has essentially followed suit. The outcome is that the IIHS ratings for the 2026 Prius are based solely on tests of the traditional hybrid — there were no separate crash tests for the PHEV.2026 Honda Civic HatchbackHondaBecause these are the best of the best compacts when it comes to safety, you can assume each car did indeed get Good marks in all five test categories unless we say otherwise. For example, the 2026 Honda Civic hatchback was named a Top Safety Pick — without the "+" — even though it met TPS+ criteria with an Acceptable mark for its V2V front-crash tech. The issue was that its Acceptable grade for pedestrian front-crash avoidance wasn't high enough for the extra honor.There's a reason we've been emphasizing the 179-inch-long hatchback: while more cars overall received 2026 Top Safety Pick Awards, the 184.8-inch Civic sedan wasn't one of them. Unlike the hatch, it received only an Acceptable grade in the updated moderate front-overlap test, which put even a regular TPS rating out of reach. According to the IIHS, the issue was poor performance of its rear passenger restraints and dummy kinematics, which refers to the ways the crash-test dummy moved around during the evaluation. Just note that the IIHS also tests vehicles' seatbelt reminders and LATCH hardware, and while the marks aren't part of the TPS consideration, the Civic hatch received a Marginal in the former and went unrated in the latter, while the sedan received Good and Good+ ratings for each, respectively.2026 Mazda3 Hatchback/SedanMazdaThis one also needs a little bit of a disclaimer: The IIHS has separate pages for the 2026 Mazda3's two separate body styles, but they're supposedly so similar that the organization just tested the sedan model and then carried over its ratings to the hatchback. Yet the ratings themselves were stellar, with only 1.5 Acceptable grades. Here's what we mean by that: When it comes to technology, the IIHS gave the Mazda3's V2V front crash-prevent setup an Acceptable grade, but then went on to evaluate headlights in two trim levels. In more affordable trims such as the 2.5 S, 2.5 S Select Sport, 2.5 S Preferred, and 2.5 S Carbon Edition, the Mazda3's LED projector headlights were deemed Acceptable. However, for the uplevel 2.5 S Premium and 2.5 Turbo Premium Plus, curve-adaptive lighting is standard, and that raised the car's headlamp marks to Good.AdvertisementAdvertisementIn the end, the biggest difference between the two body styles came down to their size and price. The Mazda3 sedan is 183.5 inches long, with an MSRP of $24,965 with destination charges, and the hatch checks in at only 175.6 inches, has a starting price of $26,965. Either way, we think the Mazda3 is perhaps the best car for a new driver.2026 Subaru Crosstrek HybridSubaruOkay, here's the thing about the 2026 Subaru Crosstrek regardless of its powertrain: Despite the fact that Subaru and its fans regard the Crosstrek as an SUV, or at least a crossover, the IIHS categorizes the vehicle as a wagon. Sure, the Crosstrek is built on the same platform as the Subaru Impreza hatchback, but many CUVs now share their underpinnings with cars. And that includes Crosstrek rivals like the Toyota Corolla Cross, which the IIHS calls a small SUV.Something else to keep in mind is that the Top Safety Pick+ award goes solely to the Crosstrek Hybrid, and not the gas-only edition. It seems that, somewhere during the process of hybridization, Subaru modified the Crosstrek's structure enough to go from a Marginal grade in the front moderate-overlap crash test to a Good. For what it's worth, the Crosstrek further stands out as the smallest of the smallest cars with Top Safety Pick status, at a mere 176.4 inches, and it's the only one with Good grades in every test and standard all-wheel drive. Needless to say, the Hybrid solved all of our problems with the gas-only Crosstrek.Want more like this? 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