The Lexus ES, a midsize luxury car; the Hyundai Santa Fe, a midsize SUV; and the Subaru XV Crosstrek recently earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s top award. The Top Safety Pick award honors these vehicles' performance in moderate overlap frontal, side, rollover and rear-impact crash tests.

The redesigned Lexus ES models, the ES 350 with a V6 gasoline-powered engine and the ES 300h hybrid, outperformed the outgoing ES 350 model that earned only a “marginal” rating in the rear test, IIHS said.

The Hyundai Santa Fe was also redesigned for the 2013 model year and joins the previous generation model as a Top Safety Pick award winner.

Subaru's XV Crosstrek is new for 2013 and a twin to the Subaru Impreza, also a Top Safety Pick. The Crosstrek will only be offered in the wagon body style.