Tesla Cybertruck Earns IIHS Top Safety Rating, Only Full-Size Pickup to Achieve Honor

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has awarded its highest safety rating, "Top Safety Pick+," to the 2025–2026 Tesla Cybertruck dual-motor variants. This top rating applies only to vehicles produced after April 2025, following Tesla’s structural upgrades—including reinforcement of the front underbody structure and modifications to the footwell area. In the IIHS’s updated crash tests, the Cybertruck earned “Good” ratings—the highest possible—in all four key evaluations: driver-side and passenger-side small overlap front tests, the updated moderate overlap front test, and the updated side impact test, meeting the stringent criteria for Top Safety Pick+. Standard headlights across the lineup achieved “Acceptable” or “Good” ratings in headlight performance evaluations. Its standard front crash prevention system received a “Good” rating in pedestrian detection tests and performed at least “Acceptable” in vehicle-to-vehicle crash avoidance scenarios. In all pedestrian crash prevention test scenarios—including a child crossing during daylight, an adult crossing at night, and an adult walking parallel to the road at night—the Cybertruck successfully avoided collisions. Within the large pickup truck segment, the Toyota Tundra received the lower-tier “Top Safety Pick” award, while the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 failed to meet the criteria for either rating. Despite its strong performance in U.S. safety assessments, the Cybertruck is currently not street-legal in the UK and most of Europe. Regulators there cite its sharp-edged body design and use of ultra-rigid stainless steel as non-compliant with pedestrian protection regulations. EU and UK rules require exterior protrusions to feature rounded contours to reduce injury risks to vulnerable road users such as pedestrians. Critics also note that the vehicle’s substantial weight and rigid construction make it less effective at absorbing crash energy, potentially transferring greater impact forces to other vehicles or pedestrians in collisions. The Cybertruck features an exoskeleton body constructed from ultra-high-strength 30X cold-rolled stainless steel, offering exceptional structural rigidity to resist side impacts and rollover deformation. Engineers designed an integrated load-path system to channel crash forces away from the passenger compartment while enabling controlled energy absorption in critical zones. Models produced after April 2025 further refine the front chassis structure to enhance protection in offset collisions. Additionally, every Cybertruck comes standard with a collision mitigation system featuring automatic emergency braking, and utilizes a skateboard-style platform with a low center of gravity to improve driving stability and handling—factors that may help reduce the likelihood of certain types of crashes.