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The Honda Odyssey has always excelled in the actual crash tests, from both IIHS and NHTSA. It has always been a Top Safety Pick at the IIHS as far as I can recall, up until the 2016 model year. For 2017, it didn't qualify because the IIHS changed its system and required an acceptable headlight rating as well. The Odyssey was not retested for headlights so it lost the Top Safety Pick designation only because its headlights were not rated, not because of any crash test result. It did not previously qualify for the "Top Safety Pick+" award, either.
The 2018 Honda Odyssey is out now. In the upper models, they have LED lights now and I believe all models except the LX have additional crash protection (automatic braking, etc). This will essentially get the Odyssey back into the safety ratings, I believe.
They have nothing out for 2018 however and I have no idea when they do the testing.
We never had an issue with our Odyssey in the Chicago area, though our suburb does a pretty good job with plowing. I never found AWD to be necessary in any of my driving or commuting in the area. We have had a Prius and AWD Highlander for years now and had no issues. Well, I did one time try to take the Prius over a snow mound to get down an unplowed section of nearby street and got stuck, but that was more on my stupidity than the lack of AWD. To be fair, Highlanders have the least effective AWD system on the market (traction control), so mine might not have made it either;-)
Here's my take on the new Odyssey: https://carseatblog.com/43268/
I think it loses a little in terms of 3-across carseat potential in the second row, but otherwise is a nice improvement over the 2017 model in almost every way. Since you have an older one in a booster soon, any limitations on 3-across in the 2nd row may not be an issue for you like it might be for some others. The wide-mode in the 2011-2017 models is still king for carseat friendliness, but the 2018 model has the magic slide feature that might make it more flexible in other ways. In the Sienna, the stowable 2nd row center seat also has its advantages, especially as kids get older. Our Odyssey (2004-2010 models) had a similar setup to the current Sienna and it can in very handy now and then. We didn't need to do 3-across carseats, so we usually used the center aisle.
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