The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released its 2025 Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ lists, and the organization has placed new emphasis on back-seat passengers. The net effect: only two pickup trucks make it on 2025 IIHS Top Safety Pick list.
“The new emphasis on back seat protection appears to have winnowed minivans and pickups from the winners’ ranks,” IIHS President David Harkey said. “That’s unfortunate, considering that minivans are marketed as family haulers and extended cab and crew cab pickups are often used for that purpose.”
The only two trucks that make the cut in 2025: Toyota Tundra Crew Cab and Rivian R1T.
Let’s dig into the criteria for the 2025 IIHS Top Safety Pick awards and see why these two trucks made the list.
The 2025 IIHS Top Safety Pick criteria
The IIHS is on a cycle for continuous improvement, pushing automakers to address gaps in safety. In 2022, it implemented a new moderate overlap front test. While the test itself is the same, simulating a head-on collision with a similar-sized vehicle at 40 MPH with 40% overlap, there is one big difference. The new test includes an additional dummy, representing a small woman or 12-year-old child, in the second row behind the driver. The new test then measures injuries frequently seen in rear-seat occupants.
So, in order to qualify for a 2025 IIHS Top Safety pick, a vehicle must earn good ratings in the small overlap front and updated side tests and an acceptable rating in the updated moderate overlap front test. Acceptable or good headlights must come standard across all trim levels, and the vehicle must earn an acceptable or good rating in the pedestrian front crash prevention test. To add the +, a vehicle needs a good rating in the updated moderate overlap front test, instead of an acceptable rating.
Why are Tundra, R1T the only trucks on the list?
Looking at the full-size and midsize/compact truck ratings, you can see that pickup trucks in general have a couple pain points.
Full-size trucks like the Ford F-150 and Silverado 1500 get poor ratings in the new moderate overlap front test. The Silverado 1500 gets further dinged because of marginal ratings in the small front overlap test and poor headlight ratings. The 2025 Ram 1500, unfortunately, is just too new to have been tested.
Only the Toyota Tundra with the crew cab makes the list as the extended cab model hasn’t gone through the new test yet. The crew cab gets good or acceptable ratings in all categories, which puts it on the TSP+ list. The R1T misses the TSP+ cut due to an acceptable rating on the new test.
Midsize trucks either haven’t been put through the new test or they fall short in the headlight department. We specifically followed up regarding the Toyota Tacoma, since it gets good or acceptable ratings across the board, performing better than any other midsize truck. The sticking point is that new moderate overlap front test – it hasn’t been put through the paces yet. An IIHS spokesperson confirmed this truck is on the docket for testing soon, and the full results should be available by May 1.
Full-size truck 2025 IIHS Top Safety Pick crash test results
Midsize truck 2025 IIHS Top Safety Pick crash test results
Our take on the 2025 IIHS Top Safety Pick list
Just because the new 2025 truck you’re considering didn’t make the list doesn’t mean it’s unsafe – or any less safe than it was last year. It just means there are safer options out there. So, if safety is a priority for precious rear cargo, the IIHS Top Safety Pick list is a good place to start your search, but it’s not the only place. Plus, if this is a work truck, the rear-seat ratings may not matter to you. So, focus in on your priorities and take a look at the full list of crash test ratings on the IIHS website, then check out the ratings on the National Highway Traffic Administration website as well.
