2021 Toyota C-HR is a IIHS Top Safety Pick

Newly-available electronic driving aids earned the 2021 Toyota C-HR a Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The Japanese firm’s smallest crossover overlooked a Plus rating, however.

Toyota made its Safety Sense 2.5 suite of electronic driving aids standard over the full C-HR range for 2021. It bundles a long list of features together with a pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, road sign assist, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping technology, and automatic high beams. It’s the very first feature (called PCS w/PD in alphabet-soupese) that designed a difference in the Institute’s standpoint. It allowed the C-HR to prevent collisions at 12 and 25 mph, and it either avoided or at least slowed up for any dummy in three separate tests.

The IIHS explained the 2021 C-HR didn’t be eligible for a an ideal Top Safety Pick Plus rating because the headlights that come on the entry-level LE and the mid-range XLE trims received a Poor rating. The visibility they offer on both sides of the road is inadequate, regardless of whether drivers are utilizing our prime beams or the low beams.

On a brighter note, literally and figuratively, the headlights on the range-topping Limited variant earned a Good rating. They notably gain the ability to illuminate around bends, making a substantial difference at night.

On sale now across the nation, the 2021 Toyota C-HR starts at $22,620 and tops out at $27,675 following a mandatory $1,175 destination charge enters the equation. 2021 also brings a blacked-out trim level named Nightshade Edition that will get gloss black trim inside and out plus 18-inch wheels. It’s priced at $25,420.