F-150 Pickup Earns Top Score in IIHS Crash Test

The Ford F-150 fullsize pickup truck outperformed 10 rivals in the latest batch of passenger-side front crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The institute’s demanding “small-overlap” crash requires that the outer 25% of a vehicle’s front end absorb all the energy of a 40 mph barrier crash. IIHS bases its ratings on measures of structural integrity and calculated injuries to the head, neck, chest, hips and thighs.

The F-150 earned the IIHS’s best rating (“good”)in all categories (chart). The Nissan Titan and Ram 1500 delivered equal performance for passenger safety but slipped to the next-best (“acceptable”) score for structural integrity.

All remaining trucks received a top rating for head, neck and chest protection. But their performance dropped in other areas. For example, the Toyota Tundra and all four General Motors models rated “poor,” the institute’s worst rating. IIHS says the Tundra inflicted the worst damage of all 11 trucks on its test dummy.

The same trucks performed notably better in earlier tests for the driver’s-side front side, with nine models receiving top overall scores. IIHS introduced its small-overlap test for the driver’s corner in 2012, and manufacturers soon incorporated modifications to pass that test. The passenger-side test was added in 2017.