Ford has made a big bet on the Mustang Mach-E, and there won’t be one thing slowing sales – safety. The all-electric crossover has earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) coveted Top Safety Pick Award, though it just missed earning the Pick Plus designation. The Mach-E is one of several EVs that IIHS is touting that proves they are just as safe as conventional gas-powered vehicles.

The Mustang earned the award by acing all six of the Institute’s crashworthiness tests: driver- and passenger-side front small overlap, moderate front overlap, side, roof strength, and head restraints. It earned a Good rating for its LED projector headlights that are available on the Premium, GT, and First Edition trims. However, the LED reflector units on the lower-trimmed Select and California Route 1 models hindered it from getting the Pick Plus award.

Also helping the Mustang secure the award is its standard front crash prevention system that earned a Superior rating in both of the Institute’s vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests. The 2021 Volvo XC40 Recharge was one of the other EVs the company recently tested, which earned the Top Safety Pick Plus Award, joining the Audi E-Tron, Audi E-Tron Sportback, and Tesla Model 3 as awardees.

“This award validates the efforts of the Mustang Mach-E team to create an electric vehicle that not only turns heads, but helps keep our customers and their passengers safe,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford chief product platform and operations officer. Standard Mach-E safety features include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, active lane control, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring with automatic rear braking, and more.

Ford has seen strong sales with the Mach-E now that production is ramping up for the model. Through March, the company had sold just over 6,600 Mach-E models, with cars selling in seven days after reaching dealer lots. However, March did see lower sales than in February, accounting for 1.3 percent of all Ford sales compared to 2.4 percent, respectively. Sales numbers should increase as there are rumors that Ford will open the order books for the Mach-E GT, the most powerful model available, on April 26.

Gallery: 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E: Review

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