Five additional vehicles – the Honda Civic two-door and four-door, Volvo XC60, Lincoln MKZ and Mazda 6 -- have earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s top safety award, based on their performance in the new small overlap front crash test.

The Honda Civic 2-door and 4-door, both small cars, and the Volvo XC60, a midsize luxury SUV, all earned “good” ratings — the highest rating available — for small overlap protection. The Lincoln MKZ, a midsize luxury car, and the Mazda 6, a midsize moderately priced car, both received an “acceptable” rating. All are 2013 models except the Mazda 6, which is redesigned for 2014.

The vehicles earned the Top Safety Pick+ award, IIHS said, because they received “good” ratings in the institute's moderate overlap front, side, rollover and rear tests, plus “good” or “acceptable” ratings in the new small overlap test. The small overlap test is designed to replicate what happens when the front corner of a vehicle collides with another vehicle or object like a tree or utility pole.

The Honda Civic, the first small car to earn the Top Safety Pick+ award, received significant front structure upgrades to improve small overlap performance.

In addition, engineers at Volvo updated the airbag algorithm to deploy the side curtain airbag in the small overlap test.