How Did the 2025 Nissan Murano Earn the Top Safety Pick+ Rating from IIHS?

In recent crash testing conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the 2025 Nissan Murano earned its highest honor, being named as a Top Safety Pick+. This affirms Nissan’s commitment towards offering the safest vehicles on the road today.  

When you look at the 2025 Murano, you can see how it achieved this great distinction. The design lends itself toward creating a space where the vehicle and its occupants are protected from various impacts that could cause major damage to the vehicle and harm to the driver and passengers. Safety and driver assistance technologies are layered within the 2025 Murano, ensuring prevention of potential incidents on the road.  

How did the 2025 Murano arrive at this place of safety leadership? 

It all starts way before the mid-size SUV rolls down the assembly line in Smyrna, Tennessee. At the Nissan Safety Advancement Lab near Detroit, engineers went to work on discovering what it takes to make the 2025 Murano one of the safest vehicles in its size class.  

The Nissan Safety Advancement Lab conducts 400 crash tests every year. It re-enacts various real-life situations to see how engineers can improve structural and technological safety for each Nissan. Nissan’s safety engineers work through scenarios based on all the crash tests conducted by the IIHS and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) through the New Car Assessment Program. Each required test is conducted to ensure the highest result.  

A critical test conducted by the lab is also required by the IIHS in its crash testing. It is a 40-mph offset run into a deformable barrier. The goal is to see how the 2025 Murano would withstand impact on the corner of the front clip at a rate of speed that could possibly cause severe harm to occupants and vehicle structures. With every test, the Nissan engineers examine the results and find ways to make adjustments to the structure of the vehicle.  

When Nissan conducts its own crash tests, engineers use a plethora of testing equipment to glean data on exterior and interior impacts. That includes air bag testing. An air bag is not only developed to protect occupants from injury, but it must also be deployed at a rate that will minimize impact. With the right amount of pressure, an air bag—along with seat belts—works to absorb impact, protecting the driver and passengers from injury and bodily harm.  

Nissan’s engineers look at how the doors are latched, creating a layer of protection that keeps occupants safely inside (as long as they are properly belted and secured with the air bags deployed). This also brings up an important piece to the safety puzzle—side impacts. When a vehicle is “t-boned” from the side, the side structure and roof pillars must be strong enough to withstand and absorb the impact.  

There is another important layer of safety that deserves further attention—driver assistance technology. The 2025 Murano is equipped with Nissan Safety Shield 360 technologies. Every piece of this suite was developed to protect you from accidents using individual features working together to achieve the goal of keeping you and your vehicle safe. Without these features and the interconnected technology that incorporates their use, the 2025 Murano would be vulnerable to even a small impact.  

Given these efforts made by Nissan’s engineers to work towards obtaining the highest crash test ratings from the IIHS and the NHTSA, there is one thing our customers highly appreciate—peace of mind. In order to earn the confidence of both owners and their passengers, the 2025 Murano has to be safe and secure every time it hits the road.  

If safety is your top priority, contact us at Dick Smith Nissan of Columbia to see for yourself why the 2025 Murano earned the highest crash test ratings by the IIHS and NHTSA. Each new Murano comes with the Dick Smith Advantage, too!