2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee, L earn IIHS Top Safety Pick+ nods

Jeep’s bread-and-butter family SUVs both received top marks from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) after some mid-stream tweaks to their available headlights. Both the 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L are now rated Top Safety Pick+, which is the watchdog’s highest rating, after missing the mark at launch due to underperforming headlights.

To qualify for the 2023 Top Safety Pick+ award, a car must earn “Good” ratings in the Institute’s driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, updated side and original moderate overlap front tests. Acceptable or good headlights must be standard across all trims, and a front crash prevention system that earns “Advanced” or “Superior” ratings in the daytime and nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian tests must be available.

Due to the aforementioned headlight hiccups, the Top Safety Pick+ rating applies only to Grand Cherokee models built after March, 2023 and Grand Cherokee L models built after May, 2023 — when the respective models received headlight upgrades that improved their performance enough to qualify.

“Prior to those changes, Jeep also adjusted the aim of the headlights offered on all trims in January,” IIHS said in its announcement. “Following the adjustment, the LED reflectors supplied with the Limited, Overland, Summit and Summit Reserve trims earn a good rating, while those on the Laredo and Altitude trims are rated acceptable. Earlier, both headlight variations earned poor ratings, in part because the low beams generated excessive glare.”

The 2023 Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L are Jeep’s only current models with Top Safety Pick+ ratings.