Toyota Crown Crashes Its Way To A Top Safety Pick+ Award

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has awarded the 2023 Toyota Crown with its Top Safety Pick+ Award. The lifted mid-size sedan earned Good ratings in nearly every category, including the small overlap front crash evaluation, which you can watch in the video above, and the updated side test.

The Crown earned a Good rating in every other crash metric. The institute awarded the car a Superior rating in day and night conditions for its front crash prevention system.

IIHS’s headlights test returned the model’s only Acceptable rating, limited to the entry-level XLE trim. The uprated lighting system on the Limited and Premium grades earned the institute’s Good rating. The XLE features the model’s Bi-LED projected headlights, while the Limited and Premium versions have the Quad-LED setup.

Toyota introduced the new Crown in July 2022 as a lifted mid-size sedan that arrived in the US for the 2023 model year. The sedan is available with two different powertrains. The standard setup is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with two electric motors and a continuously variable transmission. Toyota offers it in the XLE and Limited trims.

The other option is the Hybrid Max powertrain in the Platinum. It still has two electric motors, but they work with a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder to make 340 hp, and it ditches the eCVT for a six-speed automatic with paddle shifters.

All-wheel drive is standard across the board, but the Hybrid Max powertrain has the upgraded E-Four Advanced system that can send up to 80 percent of the available power to the rear wheels. The Platinum trim is also available with the Adaptive Variable Suspension.

The 2024 Crown starts at $41,145 (the price includes the $1,095 destination charge. Toyota recently expanded the Crown lineup with the Crown Sport crossover in Japan, which is taller, shorter, and wider than what the automaker offers in the US. 

The Crown is the latest Toyota to earn IIHS’s coveted Top Safety Pick+ award. Other 2023 models with the designation include the Camry, Highlander, Prius, Sienna, and Tundra. The Corolla, Corolla Cross, RAV4, and Venza wear the Top Safety Pick badge.