The manner in which Tesla has marketed its autonomous driving technology over the years may have raised more than a few eyebrows, but there's no denying the core safety credentials of its cars.

Case in point: In a recently-released assessment by the American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the 2021-2022 Model Y earned top honours as its latest Top Safety Pick+. 

The IIHS only allows vehicles which have earned good ratings consistently across six crashworthiness evaluations to qualify as its Top Safety Picks.

These take into account both driver and passenger safety as well as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. Additionally, Top Safety Picks must possess at least one good or acceptable head light system across multiple trim levels.

The higher-tier Top Safety Pick+ is then awarded to cars which offer good or acceptable head lights as standard. Other recent members of this elite club include the 2022 Honda Civic sedan, as well as the 2021 production model of fellow Tesla breakout star, the Model 3.

Against scepticism of the declared autonomy of its self-driving systems, Tesla has actually performed outstandingly in crash tests with its existing lineup of cars. Under the world-famous Euro NCAP assessment, the 2021 Model 3 and 2019 Model X both managed to earn the full five stars. 

There is still no indication on when the Model Y will reach our shores; as of the time of writing, Tesla's official Singapore site was still displaying the 'Get Updates' button at its section for the model.

Nonetheless, it must be noted that production of the compact SUV has been holding steady. Giga Shanghai, from which Singapore gets its Model 3s, delivered its first Model Ys back in late-January this year.