Posted by Mark Williams | April 11, 2016

The 2016 Ford F-150 is the only half-ton pickup truck in the class to get the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's highest rating of good in each of the scored crash categories, earning the best-selling half-ton pickup the institute's Top Safety Pick designation when it's equipped with Ford's optional basic-rated forward collision warning system. IIHS tested model-year 2016 two-wheel-drive versions of Ford's F-150 SuperCab (the 2015 SuperCrew was tested last year and received a top score), two Chevrolet Silverado 1500s, two GMC Sierra 1500s, two Ram 1500s and two Toyota Tundras. And for the first time, the IIHS tested both extended cab and crew cab models of each.

To recap, IIHS is an insurance-industry-sponsored third-party testing agency that independently purchases its test vehicles and evaluates them in several crash categories; those tests result in ratings of good, acceptable, marginal and poor. The ratings are based on the types of injuries test dummies sustain during simulated crashes.

Of the eight other half-ton pickups IIHS tested, three earned an overall rating of acceptable — the Silverado, Sierra and Tundra double cabs. The remaining five pickups earned a marginal overall rating - the Silverado, Sierra, Ram and Tundra crew cabs along with the Ram quad cab. The Ram 1500 crew and quad cabs also received poor scores for structure, and lower leg and foot areas, making them the lowest-scoring vehicles in the segment.

The test that's the biggest challenge for pickup truck makers is the small-overlap front crash test, which replicates what happens when a vehicle's front corner clips a tree, pole or other vehicle. This test results in the most cab intrusion and acts as a predictor of injury for passengers in a similar accident. IIHS puts a test dummy in the driver's seat to provide a real-life view of how a person could be potentially injured or protected (see photos below).

IIHS informed all pickup makers it would be conducting the small-overlap front crash test almost three years ago, but this is the first opportunity IIHS has had for comprehensive testing.

It's also the first time IIHS has tested multiple cab configurations for the half-ton segment; this change in procedure is largely due to IIHS discovering that the 2015 F-150 SuperCab did not have the same structural counter-measure pieces as the 2015 F-150 SuperCrew, which earned the highest score of good in small-overlap crash testing. It was discovered the F-150 SuperCrew's crash-test scores weren't applicable to the F-150 SuperCab.

According to Automotive News, IIHS' procedure change prompted Ford and Ram to use the same relatively simple solution — extra support beams in front and behind the front wheel wells — to try to maximize scores for their pickups in the small-overlap front crash test. But that doesn't explain how the F-150 and Ram 1500 received such different scores for model-year 2016.

Raj Nair, Ford executive vice president of product development and chief technical officer, said he's not surprised by the results because the Ford F-150 team set out to make the best and safest half-ton pickup it could. That resulted in 31 different safety innovations, including completely new cab structures. Some of these special technologies include unique extruded aluminum roof cross-members, lightweight nylon hinge reinforcements, additional rocker panel stiffening and specially designed wheel blockers to move impact forces around the passenger cabin, all of which now exist on the F-150 regular, extended and crew cab models.

The 2016 Ford F-150 also is one of three half-ton pickups to receive the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's highest rating of five stars in overall scoring as well as in other crash tests in all cab configurations. The other two are the 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500. We'll have more on this important safety subject and we reach out to the different pickup truck makers who did not score well.

IIHS images

2016 Ford F-150 SuperCab









2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Extended Cab









2016 Ram 1500 Quad Cab









2016 Toyota Tundra Double Cab



