Which new midsize pickup truck is most safe in a crash? Is it the new Toyota Tacoma, the Chevy Colorado, the Nissan Frontier, the Ford Ranger, or the Jeep Gladiator? Let’s take a look at the latest crash test data to find out.
The IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) updates its front crash test, makes it more stringent, and retests the most popular new midsize trucks. This latest round of testing specifically has to do with the “moderate overlap front IIHS crash test”. All data, images, and videos in this story are provided by the IIHS.
Let’s take a look at these five most popular current-generation midsize pickup trucks. Please note: the all-new 2024 Ford Ranger, all-new 2023 Chevy Colorado, and the all-new 2024 Toyota Tacoma have NOT been IIHS tested yet. These results are for the existing midsize trucks you can buy today or previous generation trucks.
What’s the good news? The good news is that most of these pickups are being redesigned this year or next year. Every major redesign like this usually brings with it much-improved safety, crashworthiness, and crash prevention.
IIHS uses the following rating scale for its crash tests.
G: Good, A: Acceptable, M: Marginal, and P: Poor.
2016-2023 Toyota Tacoma
The current-generation Toyota Tacoma was retested and it gets an IIHS “Poor” rating in this “Moderate Overlap front crash test”. Tacoma received a “Good” result in the older test but got a “Poor” result after the more strict new test that includes rear passenger safety evaluation. Naturally, the older the vehicle design – the less of a chance it has to meet the latest strict test requirement. We will have to wait and see what the next-generation 2024 Toyota Tacoma will do in this test and all the other tests.
2015 – 2022 Chevy Colorado
The previous generation of Chevy Colorado received a “Poor” rating in the new test. We will have to wait and see what the next-generation 2023 Chevy Colorado and the GMC Canyon will do in this test and all the other tests.
2022+ Nissan Frontier
The current 2022+ Nissan Frontier did the best in this new tougher test! It received an “Acceptable” rating! This is the best rating among these five midsize pickup trucks. Still, there is room for improvement.
2020-2023 Jeep Gladiator
The latest 2023 Jeep Gladiator receive a “Poor” rating in this test, but we expect some performance improvements in the upcoming 2024 Gladiator refresh.
2019-2023 Ford Ranger
The current generation of the Ford Ranger got a better-than-poor “Marginal” rating. We will have to wait and see what the next-generation 2024 Ford Ranger will do in this test and all the other tests.
