Safety is a top priority for any vehicle purchase. Whether it’s a sedan, a family SUV, or a pickup truck, owners and passengers require safety. There’s only one option for the 2022 model year if you’re interested in a full-size or midsize truck. A single pickup, the 2022 Toyota Tundra, received the 2022 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus Award. Only vehicles that meet the highest safety standards earn this accolade. It’s the only pickup truck to earn the 2022 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus award.

What is the IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus Award?

According to Cars.com, earning the 2022 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus Award is challenging. Moreover, vehicles that receive the honor must earn at least a “good” score in six crash evaluations. They are driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength, and head restraint tests. In addition to the crashworthiness tests, the vehicle must earn a good or acceptable rating for all of its headlights.

Finally, the last requirement is “a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both vehicle-to-vehicle and daylight vehicle-to-pedestrian crash prevention tests.” Notably, the night version of the same test is not a requirement for a TSP+.

All of these things must be true for a vehicle to receive a Top Safety Pick Plus. Unfortunately, the pickup truck segments are not filled with safe options. Only one full-size truck won a 2022 IIHS Top Safet Pick Plus Award, the 2022 Toyota Tundra. Contrarily, during its last generation, the Tundra failed to meet those requirements.

The 2022 Toyota Tundra is the only pickup truck to earn a 2022 IIHS Top Safety Pick+

For the 2022 model year, the fully redesigned Tundra earned significantly improved safety scores. Furthermore, it’s the safest full-size or midsize pickup truck available, according to IIHS testing. For the last generation Tundra, a few tests fell short of award worthiness. For example, roof strength evaluation, driver-side small overlap, and passenger-side small overlap were all below the good rating. Moreover, the Tundra earned an acceptable, marginal, and poor rating for these tests.

However, the redesigned Tundra met all requirements, improving these tests to at least good. Next, every vehicle is required to score an acceptable or good for all of its headlights. That means if it offers LEDs in higher trims and non-LEDs for lower, both sets must score high enough. Although the last-gen Tundra failed, the 2022 Toyota pickup did well enough with all of its headlights.

Lastly, the current version of the Tundra passed the front crash prevention system tests with flying colors. In addition to meeting the requirements, it also earned some extra credit. In short, passing the night vehicle-to-pedestrian crash prevention test (only the daylight test is required) is not necessary to achieve a Top Safety Pick Plus, but the Tundra did. Impressively, the Toyota pickup also earned a superior rating in this category.

That’s why it’s the only full-size or midsize pickup truck to earn the 2022 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus award.

3 trucks earned Top Safety Picks

No truck other than the Tundra in the full-size or midsize category earned a 2022 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus award. However, three other models earned a Top Safety Pick. Consider these models if you’re looking for a safe pickup, even though they fall short of the Tundra. According to Cars.com, the crew cab 2022 Ram 1500, crew/extended cab Ford F-150, and Hyundai Santa Cruz earned the standard Top Safety Pick award.

In conclusion, these other pickups are safe but not on the same level as the Tundra. Only the 2022 Toyota Tundra earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus award. Only vehicles that pass rigorous testing earn this honor. Furthermore, it’s worth giving Toyota’s pickup another look, even if only for safety purposes.