Ford F-150, Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado pick-ups rated ‘poor’ in new US crash tests

The three best-selling full-size pick-ups in the US – now sold in Australia in right-hand drive – have received 'poor' ratings in new crash tests by a leading US safety body.

It comes amid reports the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) in Australia and New Zealand is looking to test the safety of US pick-ups – either through traditional crash testing, or evaluation of their advanced crash-avoidance systems.

The Ford F-150, Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado – the only three models in the booming US pick-up category to date – have been put through strict new crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, one of the US’s primary independent safety bodies.

The IIHS – which categories its results into four ratings: ‘Good’, ‘Acceptable’, ‘Marginal’ and ‘Poor’ – subjected the three top-selling pick-ups to its newest crash tests, the ‘Moderate Overlap Front Test’ and ‘Updated Side Test’.

IIHS awarded 'Good' scores for the Ford F-150, Ram 1500 and Toyota Tundra pick-up – also included in the crash tests, and due in Australian showrooms in 2025 – and an 'Acceptable' rating for the Silverado in the Updated Side Test.

However the F-150, Silverado and Ram 1500 were rated ‘Poor’ in the Moderate Overlap Front Test – with the rear seatbelts of the Ford, tested in the crew-cab body which will be sold in Australia, criticised as ‘inadequate’ – while the Toyota earned a 'Marginal' rating.

The Moderate Overlap Front Test was primarily designed to rate second-row passenger safety following data showing back seat passengers are more likely to be injured than front-row occupants.

It uses a crash-test dummy in the second row, behind the driver’s seat, the size of a small female or 12-year-old child.

The IIHS reports measurements taken from the rear-seat dummy in the F-150 and Ram 1500 “indicated that chest injuries and head or neck injuries would be likely”.

"For the Tundra, the risk of chest injuries was also too high due to poor belt positioning, but the risk of head or neck injuries was only slightly elevated," the IIHS said in a media release.

“Like most other vehicle classes, large pickups don’t perform as well in the new Moderate Overlap evaluation as they do in the Updated Side Test,” IIHS President David Harkey said a written statement in the IIHS report.