When shopping for a vehicle, safety is one of the most important criteria. Choosing a model that will keep you and your family safe on the road is paramount, and as a result, many resources have emerged to help prospective buyers make their decision.One of the most trusted sources of vehicle safety information is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The group regularly crash tests new and updated models. The automobiles with the best performance in the various assessments earn the IIHS’ Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards.This year’s winners have recently been announced, and while there are plenty of cars and SUVs that managed to earn an award, only a single vehicle in the pickup truck category won the Top Safety Pick+ honor. The model may surprise you because it's the Tesla Cybertruck, the sharp-edged pickup that has garnered significant controversy since before the vehicle's debut. Let’s take a closer look at the Cybertruck and how it scored so well with the IIHS. The Cybertruck: An Unlikely Champion Of Automotive Safety TeslaThe Cybertruck is an all-electric pickup, Tesla’s first venture into the truck market. It is best known for its highly unusual appearance. The body has sharp edges and is completely devoid of any curves. Plus, the vehicle's shiny steel surfaces make it instantly stand out from anything else on the road.The Cybertruck is available with two all-electric powertrains. There's a dual-motor option producing 593 hp, and a tri-motor version called the Cyberbeast, which produces a whopping 834 hp. The pickup's 0-60 times range from around 4.0 seconds for the dual-motor model to as little as 2.5 seconds for the performance-oriented Cyberbeast. A single-motor RWD option, producing 321 hp, was produced at the start of the Cybertruck’s lifespan, but the company has discontinued this variant.Tesla While the Cybertruck achieved very good overall results in the IIHS’s test, there were a couple of areas where it still fell short. The vehicle received a “Good” grade (the highest level on the IIHS scale) on all fronts except two. The first area where it got a less-than-perfect score was the quality of the seat belt reminders, where it achieved a “Marginal” grade (second lowest out of four). The second was the ease of use of the LATCH child seat anchors, where it scored an “Acceptable” grade (second-highest, slotting in just after “Good”).Nonetheless, the Cybertruck’s performance in the tests was highly impressive, and the fact that it has a Top Safety Pick+ award to its name should boost the model's reputation among consumers on the fence about buying one. Safe... But Not Quite Bulletproof Tesla While the Cybertruck has certainly made an impression thanks to its safety credentials, claims that it is “bulletproof” (made both by Tesla itself and by Cybertruck enthusiasts) are somewhat exaggerated. Thanks to the IIHS’s assessment, we can trust the Cybertruck to keep occupants safe on the road. However, encounters with a firearm are a different matter entirely.The truck’s body is made out of “cold-rolled”, laser-cut steel that's 0.1 inches thick, built with both lightness and durability in mind. The unique manufacturing process involved ensures the Cybertruck is very good at absorbing impacts, more so than most traditional pickup trucks. It is also fairly resistant to minor damage such as scratches and dents, as well as corrosion.Tesla Testing has shown that the Cybertruck’s body does provide a small amount of resistance against small arms, successfully stopping 9 mm and .45 ACP handgun rounds. However, the vehicle has not been tested to military or NIJ ballistic standards and most likely would not provide the same level of resistance to high-velocity rifle rounds.The truck’s glass is another aspect that might not be quite as tough as the initial marketing hype made it seem. The model is equipped with armored windows made of a polymer-layered composite, built to withstand the impact of a Class 4 hailstone or a baseball traveling at 70 mph.However, despite offering increased impact resistance, the glass is not rated for ballistic rounds. In other words, while there is a kernel of truth to Tesla’s statement, and the Cybertruck is certainly quite tough by civilian vehicle standards, it is not a true bulletproof vehicle by any means. Its good reputation for safety is limited to its on-road performance, rather than its capabilities on other fronts. What Are The IIHS Top Safety Pick And Top Safety Pick+ Awards? Tesla/YouTube The IIHS is a non-profit scientific organization focused on vehicle safety and consumer advice. It was created in 1959 by a group of automotive insurers and, by the late 60s, had evolved into an independent research organization. The IIHS focuses on a few key areas of vehicle safety research, most notably crash avoidance, crashworthiness, and human factors (such as teen and elderly drivers, alcohol, and fatigue).The Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards are given each year to identify vehicles that perform especially well in a series of safety-related areas. The Top Safety Pick was introduced in 2006, and the Top Safety Pick+ arrived in 2013. The criteria for the Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards change frequently, with updates almost every year.The Top Safety Pick+ is essentially a higher tier of the Top Safety Pick award, with vehicles needing to obtain a “Good” rating in more areas to obtain the “+.” The ratings are as follows, from highest to lowest: Good, Acceptable, Marginal, and Poor.Tesla/YouTube In 2026, the components of the IIHS assessment were crashworthiness (small overlap front, moderate overlap front, and side), crash avoidance and mitigation (headlights, vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention, and pedestrian front crash prevention), and seat belt and child restraints (seat belt reminders and LATCH child seat anchors ease of use).For comparison, the criteria used for 2025 were nearly identical, except for vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention, which was not yet included and was added for 2026. The criteria are updated near-yearly for several reasons, including advances in safety tech and the need to avoid too many vehicles receiving a Top Safety Pick rating, which would make the assessment less valuable and useful to consumers.Vehicles in the IIHS Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ groups are divided by size (small, midsize, and large), body type (cars, SUVs, minivans, and pickups), and broad price category (mainstream or luxury). Last Year's Only Other Pickup Winner Besides The Cybertruck: The Toyota Tundra Toyota While the 2026 Cybertruck was the only pickup to bag a Top Safety Pick+ award, the 2026 Toyota Tundra managed to earn a Top Safety Pick honor.The Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck nameplate introduced in 1999 and is currently in its third generation. The current iteration launched for the 2022 model year and is available with two powertrain options. One is a 3.4-liter twin-turbocharged V6, producing 389 hp depending on the variant. The other is a hybrid powertrain that pairs the same engine with one electric motor for a total output of 437 hp. The only transmission available is a 10-speed automatic.ToyotaThe 2026 Tundra received Good ratings in the crashworthiness evaluations. However, its headlights received a mixed Good/Acceptable score depending on the trim level. The standard pedestrian front crash prevention system also got an Acceptable rating. The IIHS judged the truck's seat belt reminders as Good and its LATCH ease of use as Acceptable.In contrast, the 2026 Cybertruck received six Good ratings (in all areas of crashworthiness and crash avoidance & mitigation), one Marginal rating (for seat belt reminders), and one Acceptable rating (for LATCH ease of use).The reason why the Tundra missed out on the Top Safety Pick+ award is because it did not get the required Good rating in the pedestrian front crash prevention, and did not receive a rating at all in the vehicle-to-vehicle crash prevention (which requires either an Acceptable or a Good to obtain a Top Safety Pick+).Still, if vehicle safety is something you value from a new truck, the Top Safety Pick status is enough to put the Tundra on your shopping list.
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