The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) today announced that the Mazda CX-9 crossover, built after December 2019, has been added to the list of Mazda vehicles that earn its highest award, the 2020 TOP SAFETY PICK+. The CX-9 joins the 2020 Mazda3 Sedan and Hatchback, Mazda6, CX-3, and CX-5 vehicles as 2020 TOP SAFETY PICK+ award recipients. Mazda leads the industry with more awards than any other automaker.

To qualify for the TOP SAFETY PICK+ award, the 2020 CX-9 earned good ratings in each of the Institute’s six crashworthiness evaluations: moderate overlap front, driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraints & seats. The 2020 CX-9 also earned advanced or superior ratings for front crash prevention in both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. Additionally, the 2020 CX-9, achieved a good headlight rating for all models built after December 2019.

“Earning the 2020 IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+ for Mazda’s 2020 CX-9 is a great honor and reflects our unending commitment to safety for our owners,” said Mazda President Jeff Guyton. “Our customers are at the forefront of our safety development and Mazda is dedicated to providing the most advanced safety technologies to give our customers a more joyful and confident driving experience.”

Mazda’s i-Activsense is an umbrella term covering a series of advanced safety technologies which make use of detection devices such as milliwave radars and cameras. They include active safety technologies that support safer driving by helping the driver to recognize potential hazards, and pre-crash safety technologies which help to avert collisions or reduce their severity in situations where they cannot be avoided. Mazda’s i-Activsense advanced safety technologies featured on the 2020 CX-9 include Advanced Smart City Brake Support with Pedestrian Detection, Smart Brake Support with Collision Warning, Mazda Radar Cruise Control with Stop & Go Function, Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning System with Lane-Keep Assist, High Beam Control, Adaptive Front-Lighting System, and Traffic Sign Recognition.