Ford’s new Mustang Mach-E, the company’s all-electric take on a high-performance classic, landed on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) list of Top Safety Picks for 2021. The vehicle also was extremely close to achieving the rare perfect safety rating, but inadequately performing headlights on two variants caused the car to fall just short of the label.
In fact, the Mustang Mach-E’s Premium variants that include the soon-to-be-offered GT and the First Edition trims of the vehicle met the specifications required to be listed on the IIHS’ list of Top Safety Picks for the 2021 model year. The Select and California Route 1 variants were only given “marginal” ratings for their headlights, which kept these two configurations of the car off of the IIHS list.
The difference is that the GT and First Edition trim levels offer LED projector headlights, which attained a “good” rating, the highest possible rating to achieve. The Select and California Route 1 variants “provided inadequate illumination on some curves,” the IIHS report indicated.
The headlights actually ended up keeping the Mustang Mach-E entirely off of the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ Award. David Harkey, President of the IIHS, told the Detroit Free Press that “Top Safety Picks are teams that make the playoffs and Top Safety Picks+ are teams in the championship games.”
The headlights shouldn’t take away from the overall safety of the Mach-E. The vehicle scored top ratings in all of the Crashworthiness categories, which include Small overlap front: driver-side, Small overlap front: passenger-side, Moderate overlap front, Side, Roof Strength, and Head restraints and seats. The car’s Overall Evaluation landed a “Good” rating, the highest possible.
Credit: IIHS
With the Mach-E’s inclusion on the list, the vehicle joins other electric cars that have been present on the elusive compilation of cars. One of which is the Tesla Model 3, a Top Safety Pick+ choice from the IIHS that has been present on the list for three consecutive years.
Yesterday, it was announced that the Mach-E’s GT variant would become available for order, and pricing details would also be released on Monday, April 26th.