IIHS to add risky driver behavior detection features to Top Safety Pick+ award criteria

Vehicle technology that can detect certain types of risky driver behavior will soon be added to the requirements for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Pick+ award.

In the coming years, IIHS plans to add impairment detection, intelligent speed assistance (ISA), and driver attention systems to the award criteria.

“As part of our 30×30 vision to cut U.S. road deaths 30% by 2030, we are committed to addressing the risky — and often illegal — behavior that underlies most fatalities today,” said IIHS President David Harkey, in a press release. “One way we plan to do that is to leverage our ratings and award programs to encourage automakers to adopt this new class of safety technology, just as we got them to improve vehicle structures, air bags, and collision avoidance systems.”

IIHS’s renewed focus on risky behavior will include continued research on effective policies to discourage such behavior as well as technologies that can detect it and possibly intervene, the release says.

IIHS says automakers can expect multiple features of that nature to be added to the award criteria by 2030 or sooner. The first IIHS ISA system ratings will be issued in 2027.

Harkey described the initiative during a Sept. 9 Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) roundtable, held as part of the organization’s 45th anniversary commemoration.

“This is a significant milestone for victims and survivors of impaired driving,” said MADD CEO Stacey Stewart, in the release. “Incorporating impairment prevention into IIHS Top Safety Pick+ criteria is remarkable progress toward ending drunk driving. We commend IIHS, the gold standard in the U.S. market, for its leadership and look forward to supporting the 30×30 initiative.”

MADD and IIHS say progress in reducing U.S. drunk driving fatalities has stalled, and impaired driving deaths represent nearly a third of road fatalities today.

“Technology could be a game changer,” the release says. “An IIHS analysis found that if all vehicles were equipped with technology to prevent anyone with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher from driving, more than 10,000 lives a year would be saved. Various methods exist to detect impairment. In recent years, work has progressed on a system that analyzes the driver’s exhalations from normal breathing to determine BAC and on a touch-based system that analyzes the skin.”

Technologies addressing other forms of risky behavior are even further along, IIHS says. Those include ISA, which detects when drivers exceed the speed limit and can issue warnings or intervene.

IIHS notes that automakers are also starting to offer driver attention systems to mitigate driver distraction or drowsiness.

ISA will be the first risky behavior technology feature to be added to the Top Safety Pick+ criteria.

“IIHS ratings have already helped speed adoption of one behavior-related feature,” the release says. “Enhanced belt reminders that are more persistent than the brief warning light and audible signal required by the government have become much more common since IIHS began rating belt reminders in 2022. Nearly three-quarters of 2025 models evaluated earn a good rating, compared with only 16% of 2022 models.”

In December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a rule that will require all vehicle models to be equipped with enhanced seatbelt reminders by 2027.

IIHS notes that research shows risky driver behavior continues to offset air bags and more protective vehicle structures.

“As a result, traffic deaths will remain higher in the U.S. than in other advanced countries unless action is taken,” the release says.

“Despite the influence that IIHS ratings and awards can have, Harkey emphasized that addressing risky behavior is not something that the Institute can do alone. Partnerships with safety advocates and the auto industry, as well as federal, state, and local policymakers, will be critical.”

Harkey added, “The sooner we can start getting these features into vehicles, the sooner we can make risky-driving deaths a thing of the past. But even if we start tomorrow, it will be decades before all vehicles on the road are equipped with these systems. That’s why we also need to continue advancing strong policies to deter impaired driving, speeding, and other problem behaviors.”

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Featured image provided by IIHS