Honda Odyssey Safety Rating
Minivans have earned a reputation as excellent choices for families because of their size, capacity, and safety. But how safe is a minivan? And is it a better choice than an SUV to keep your family protected? Examining the Honda Odyssey’s safety rating will provide a glimpse of this minivan’s safety features and explain why it is considered among the top picks by crash testing agencies.
Honda Odyssey Overview
The Honda Odyssey is a minivan designed for families. It offers comfort and safety, ensuring that your family can feel comfortable on regular trips or long rides. It boasts a modern design and a spacious cabin (not surprising considering it is marketed for families).
The Honda Odyssey’s family-oriented design makes it stand out. The 2019 and 2020 models have received a major facelift from prior iterations to compete with other minivans, including the top-rated Chrysler Pacifica.
While not as elegant-looking or stylish as the Pacifica, the Odyssey makes up for it in terms of driving dynamics, power, comfort, and fuel efficiency. With adequate space for eight, it is perfect for families. It comes in various trim levels, ensuring you can find the right fit for your family’s needs and budget.
The Honda Odyssey stands out because of its gas mileage. It has a refined 3.5-liter V-6 engine with the option of a nine- or 10-speed automatic transmission. The engine can produce 280 horsepower, carrying eight passengers without any struggle. Considering that it can haul many people, it’s impressive that this minivan offers impressive fuel efficiency.
Safety Features of the Honda Odyssey
Are you worried about the Honda Odyssey recall? While this minivan isn’t perfect, it does have some safety issues in its powertrain, and various components. However, Honda has dedicated to introducing a suite of safety features on the Honda Odyssey to not only improve its safety rating, but also ensure the protection of its occupants.
• Airbags—The Honda Odyssey offers several airbags, including front-impact, side-impact, overhead, and knee airbags.
• Stability Control – This feature stabilizes the vehicle when it exceeds its handling limits. The system automatically adjusts the engine power and brakes to control the vehicle for safety.
• Pretensioners—This feature automatically adjusts the tension on the seatbelt in accidents to prevent injury and ensure the safest position for occupants.
• Anti-Whiplash Protection – This head restraint feature cradles the occupant’s head during a rear collision to prevent injury due to whiplash.
• Security System—This system detects and prevents vehicle theft. Specifically, it will not start without the original manufacturer’s key.
Honda Odyssey Safety Rating
The Honda Odyssey safety rating is impressive and unsurprising for Honda vehicles. The minivan segment, in particular, should focus on safety given that it is used to carry families, so you should always prioritise safety in choosing the right vehicle for your family.
Let’s start off with the NHTSA Honda Odyssey safety rating. The federal agency has given the Honda Odyssey a five-star rating, which applies to the 2022 Honda Odyssey model. This model, specifically the front-wheel drive variant, is the latest model from the Odyssey lineup to be evaluated under the NHTSA’s standard safety crash tests.
The frontal crash test is a five for the Honda Odyssey, including the front driver and passenger sides, with each test scoring five stars. The consistent five-star rating also applies to the side crash test for the Honda Odyssey. It performed exceptionally well on the side barrier and side pole rating, which suits the front and rear seat passengers. The only aspect of the NHTSA safety test where the Honda Odyssey failed to secure a five-star rating is the rollover crash test, which earned four stars. However, the rollover risk is at 13.60%.
Meanwhile, the IIHS Honda Odyssey safety rating is exceptional across the board. The Honda Odyssey earned the Top Safety Pick award on the 2020, 2022, and 2023 Honda Odyssey models. The 2020 minivan model scored Good overall on the Crashworthiness tests and earned a Superior rating on the Crash Avoidance & Mitigation.
The 2022 model earned a better rating on the Crashworthiness and Crash Avoidance & Mitigation tests, with an Advanced score on most headlight variants. It also scored Superior on the front crash prevention (pedestrian and vehicle-to-vehicle collision). Lastly, the 2023 model scored Good on all Crashworthiness tests, except for the Poor rating on the updated moderate overlap front test and seat belt reminders.
How Safe is Your Minivan?
Whether you choose the Honda Odyssey or another minivan model, rear-seat passengers tend to be at the highest risk. Therefore, IIHS crash testing has focused on giving recommendations to improve rear seat safety so that passengers at the back get the same level of protection. The rear seat safety issue emerged as one of the biggest challenges in designing a safe minivan for all passengers.
Given the impressive Honda Odyssey safety rating, you can rest assured when choosing this minivan for your family. The 2023-2024 Honda Odyssey minivan also earned a Top Safety Pick from the IIHS, making it one of the safest minivans in the market.
While the Odyssey is built with safety features, safe driving habits are still the best way to prevent accidents and ensure safety on the road.
