2024 BMW 5 series takes home highest award

The 2024 BMW 5 series, a large luxury car, earns a Top Safety Pick+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The 2024 BMW X5, a midsize luxury SUV, falls short of an award due to a marginal rating for one of the two available headlight variations.

To qualify for Top Safety Pick+ in 2023, a vehicle must earn a good rating in the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, original moderate overlap front and updated side tests. Acceptable or good headlights must be standard across all trims, and a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the daytime and nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations must be available.

In contrast, for the lower-tier Top Safety Pick award, an acceptable rating in the updated side test is enough, and only an advanced or superior rating in the daytime vehicle-to-pedestrian test is necessary.

Redesigned for 2024, the 5 series meets all the requirements for the “plus,” with a standard front crash prevention system that earns superior ratings in both the daytime and nighttime tests and good-rated headlights supplied with all trims.

The X5 meets all the crash test requirements and comes with a standard front crash prevention system that earns superior ratings in both evaluations. However, the LED projector headlights supplied with the sDrive40i, xDrive40i and xDrive50e trims only merit a marginal rating because the high beams do not provide adequate illumination on straightaways and gradual righthand curves. The LED projectors supplied with other trims are rated acceptable.