Musk got what he wanted: Cybertruck beats Ford and Ram in crash tests

IIHS toughened its 2026 pickup criteria — only Cybertruck and Tundra walked away with awards. F-150, Silverado and Ram missed out.

The American IIHS toughened its requirements for 2026 pickups, and the result turned out brutal for the market. Out of the entire segment only two models received awards: Tesla Cybertruck Crew Cab and Toyota Tundra Crew Cab.

Cybertruck became the only pickup with the top Top Safety Pick+ rating. It earned Good across all six core disciplines of the program: small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side impact, pedestrian front crash prevention, headlights, and the new vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention test. Outside the core program Tesla has weak spots: Marginal for seat belt reminders and Acceptable for LATCH ease of use.

Toyota Tundra kept its award but without the «plus». The reason is not the body shell: across three crash tests Tundra got Good. Losing TSP+ status comes down to the new Front crash prevention: vehicle-to-vehicle 2.0 discipline — Toyota has no result here. Headlights are rated Good/Acceptable, pedestrian crash prevention — Acceptable. For the buyer this is an important distinction: a strong cabin does not guarantee the best set of electronic assistants.

The American Big Three look weaker. Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab got Acceptable for side impact and pedestrian crash prevention, Marginal for small overlap front, and Poor for moderate overlap front and headlights. IIHS extends these results to Silverado Crew Cab from 2019 onwards.

Ford F-150 Crew Cab fared better than Chevrolet: Good for small overlap, side impact, pedestrian crash prevention, and headlights on some versions. But Poor for moderate overlap front and vehicle-to-vehicle crash prevention knocked it off the awards list. Ram 1500 also did not get a TSP, although among American pickups it looks stronger than the rest: Marginal in the new crash prevention test against Poor for F-150, with a similar failure in the moderate front overlap.

For buyers eyeing the used American pickup market such ratings matter even without official imports. F-150, Silverado, Ram, and Tundra often arrive through private channels, while Cybertruck remains expensive exotica. But when choosing a used American pickup, V8 power, towing capacity, and bed size are not the only factors. Sometimes the specific model year, cab type, and how the truck performs in these newer, tougher tests are what decide.