The Nissan Kicks earned a Poor rating in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s moderate overlap front crash test, then earned a Good in the same test after Nissan changed its rear seat belts. That single result moved the small crossover from an also-ran to a 2026 Top Safety Pick, with one catch: only Kicks built after June 2026 qualify.
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Two Kicks parked side by side on a dealer lot can therefore carry different crash protection in the back seat, and nothing about their paint or trim says which is which.
The test that sank the Kicks
The Kicks was redesigned for the 2025 model year, and the Institute’s October 22 announcement says it “initially earned a poor rating in the moderate overlap front test.” That test is the one that stresses second-row protection, so a Poor there points at what happens to a rear passenger, not the driver.
The moderate overlap test is the Institute’s way of checking what a crash does to people in the back. A Poor in it is not a cosmetic ding, since a Good is a fixed requirement for any Top Safety Pick, and no amount of strength elsewhere makes up for it.
Nissan responded by modifying the rear seat belts. The Institute states that only vehicles built after June 2026, when those changes were made, qualify for the award, and that those vehicles earn a Good in the moderate overlap test.
The Top Safety Pick criteria the Kicks had to clear
A Top Safety Pick demands a lot at once. The vehicle needs Good ratings in the moderate overlap front, small overlap front and side tests, acceptable or good headlights on every trim, an acceptable or good rating for pedestrian front crash prevention, and standard front crash prevention.
The Kicks clears those. It rates Good in the small overlap front, moderate overlap front and side tests, Good for headlights, and Good for standard pedestrian front crash prevention. The Institute also lists Good for seat belt reminders and the top Good+ for ease of using child-seat anchors, though neither counts toward the award.
It stops short of the higher “plus” tier. According to the announcement, the Kicks earns only a Marginal for standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention, and the plus award adds an acceptable-or-good requirement in that updated test along with a Good pedestrian rating.
Why build date is the fine print
The award attaches to the 2026-27 Kicks, but the Institute is explicit that the model year alone does not settle it. A shopper looking at a 2026 Kicks built in, say, March sits in a car whose rear belts Nissan had not yet changed, and the Poor result applied to that configuration.
The practical route is the manufacturing date printed on the driver’s door jamb label. Dealers can also confirm whether a particular vehicle includes the revised rear belts. The Institute’s ratings database is where the current published results for the model live, and Nissan’s Kicks page covers the current lineup, though neither is a substitute for checking the label.
For buyers comparing used and new inventory, the Kicks is now a case where the same name on the trunk lid covers two different safety outcomes. A used 2025 model, or an early 2026 build, was rated under the earlier results, while a vehicle assembled after June carries the revised belts and the Good rating that came with them.
The episode is also a reminder of how the Institute’s program works in practice. A poor result does not stay fixed if the automaker changes the hardware and the vehicle is retested, and the public rating can improve within a model year.
Five models that did not make the cut
The Kicks was one of six vehicles in the round, and it was the only one to qualify. The announcement says the other five do not: the Audi Q3, the Chevrolet Trailblazer, the Toyota RAV4, the Toyota RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid and the Volkswagen Jetta.
The misses are mixed. The RAV4 family, which includes the Toyota RAV4, falls short in the moderate overlap front test, the same test the Kicks needed to fix. The Institute’s published ratings show the plug-in hybrid at Marginal and the gas model at Acceptable, neither of which reaches the Good the award demands.
The others fail for their own reasons. The ratings table in the announcement shows the Audi Q3 and the Chevrolet Trailblazer both at Poor in the moderate overlap test, and the Trailblazer also trails on crash prevention. The 2027 Volkswagen Jetta is held back by an Acceptable in the side test and Marginal headlights.
That is the contrast worth holding onto. A widely sold compact crossover missed on the same crash test where the Kicks fixed its score with a rear seat belt revision. For a family choosing between them, the rear seat’s rating now depends on a month of manufacture as much as on a model name.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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