Toyota Tacoma Botched the IIHS Updated Side Test, Lagging Behind Other Small Pickups

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has tested six small pickups in crew cab configuration in the updated side crash test. The Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, and Honda Ridgeline earned good ratings, while the Nissan Frontier and Ford Ranger were rated acceptable. The Toyota Tacoma is the only tested model that failed to impress, with an overall marginal rating. All pickups benefitted from a high ride height to fend off the blunt force of the impact.

“Their high ride height means that the barrier we use to represent a striking vehicle hits the strong door sill structures directly,” said IIHS Senior Research Engineer Becky Mueller. “This likely prevented excessive intrusion into the occupant compartment, except in the case of the Tacoma.”

The structure and safety cages of the good-rated Colorado, Canyon, and Ridgeline held up relatively well, contributing to a minimal risk of most injury. It’s not all rosy because injury measurements taken from the dummies indicated a possibility of a pelvic fracture for the driver of the Colorado, the Canyon, and especially the Ridgeline.

The Frontier’s structure held out the best, and the Ranger’s cabin also remained largely intact, minimizing injury risks. However, the rear passenger dummies’ heads struck the C-pillar through the side curtain airbag in both acceptable-rated vehicles.

The Toyota Tacoma painted a different picture. Although the measurements indicated a minimal risk of most injuries, its structure and safety cage did not hold very well. The impact from the striking barrier crumpled the door sill and B-pillar, pushing the B-pillar to within a few inches of the center of the driver seat.

“That alone pushed the overall rating down to marginal,” Mueller said. “We weight structural performance very heavily because it is tied so closely with survivability.”

The IIHS developed the updated side test after research showed that many real-world side impacts are more severe than the initial evaluation. The new test uses a heavier barrier (4,200 lb/1,905 kg) traveling at a higher speed (37 mph/60 kph) to simulate the striking vehicle. The original evaluation featured a 3,300-lb(1,497-kg) barrier traveling at 31 mph (50 kph). All six pickups earned good ratings in the original side test.

The updated test does not yet count in the IIHS award criteria. A good or acceptable rating will be required from 2023 to earn the low-tier Top Safety Pick award. For the higher-tier Top Safety Pick+ award, only a good rating will do.