Safest fleet of SUVs. The description is what every vehicle brand wants to be associated with. This year, Audi was given the highly-regarded award for several of its SUV models, by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is the leading automotive safety organization in the United States.

In a report by the IIHS, the following are the Audi models that received the IIHS 2023 Top Safety Pick+ award: The 2023 Audi Q4 e-tron luxury full electric compact SUV; 2023 Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron luxury full electric compact SUV; 2024 Audi Q8 e-tron luxury 100-percent electric full-size SUV; 2024 Audi Q8 Sportback e-tron luxury 100-percent electric full-size SUV; 2023 Audi Q8 luxury full-size SUV.

Meanwhile, these two models were able to get the 2023 Top Safety Pick award: The 2023 Audi Q5 luxury midsize SUV and the 2023 Audi Q5 Sportback luxury midsize SUV.

The IIHS announced last February that it was bolstering its requirements for its safety award by including an updated side crash test that will involve 82 percent more energy than the original test as well as a new nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention test.

And with Audi being the award recipient in the IIHS's two safety categories, it all the more made the German automobile company's achievement significant.

When a vehicle is able to bag the Top Safety Pick+ award under the IIHS's more stringent qualifications, it means that it has earned "Good" ratings in the driver- and passenger-side small front overlap and original moderate overlap front collision tests, and is equipped with "Acceptable" or "Good" headlights across all trims.

It also has a "Good" rating in the updated side impact test, and "Advanced" or "Superior" rating in both the daytime and nighttime pedestrian tests.

Same strict test requirements

Electric vehicles like the Audi Q8 e-tron underwent the same strict test requirements as models with conventional engines.

Per Audi, the standard crash avoidance systems on the Q8 e-tron SUV and Q8 e-tron Sportback garnered a "Superior" rating for daytime use and an "Advanced" rating for nighttime use. All four of Audi's 100-percent electric SUV models got the highest 2023 IIHS safety award.