Safety and economy are two of the biggest factors in purchasing a new truck. How safe will you be in a crash in your new midsize pickup? You’ll want to watch these simulated crashes from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety if you’re thinking about buying. Then take a look at how the IIHS rated them below.

All pickups go through the same ratings for the crash tests. These include the small overlap front crash for both right and left sides, moderate overlap front, side-impact, roof strength, and head/seat restraints. 

It also tests the efficacy of headlights, child seat anchors, and front crash prevention systems in each vehicle. The four grades are a “G” for Good, “A” for Acceptable, “M” for Marginal, and “P” for Poor. For crash avoidance systems a grade of “superior”, “advanced”, or “basic” is given. 

Since the 2020 models are too new the ratings given were for 2019 midsize pickups. Let’s see where the midsize truck of your dreams falls among this segment.

Midsize truck crashes

2019 Toyota Tacoma Crew Cab

Top Safety Pick. 

Then Tacoma is the only midsize pickup to receive a “Top Safety Pick.” In simulated testing, it scored a “Good” in all of the driving categories except for the passenger-side small overlap front test. For that, it rated “Acceptable.” It also got a good rating for its LED headlights, but a Marginal for its regular ones. 

2019 Ford Ranger Crew Cab

Though Ford’s Ranger is new to the US it first appeared in Europe and Africa in 2015. Adapted for the US market, it received a “Good” rating in all categories except the passenger-side small front overlap where it only got an “Acceptable” score. Headlights and child safety latches only scored a marginal rating. For this, it landed in second overall for midsize pickups. 

2019 Chevy Colorado Crew Cab

Chevy’s midsize Colorado made its debut in 2014. It scored a “Good” rating in all of the crash categories except for passenger side front overlap where it only garnered a “Marginal” score. Headlight quality got a “Poor” rating, and child safety latch a marginal score. This puts it in a tie for third with its sister GMC Canyon Crew Cab pickup.

2019 GMC Canyon Crew Cab

See: Chevy Colorado Crew Cab.

2019 Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab

For the Extended Cab version of the Tacoma, the scores were identical to the Crew Cab. But, it was not scored in the passenger-side small overlap front crash. It would be expected to do as well as its Crew Cab sibling, but was dropped lower in the ratings because of this.

2019 Chevy Colorado Extended Cab

Chevy’s Extended Cab version of the Colorado did not fare as well as did the Crew Cab for crash ratings. It also was not tested for passenger-side small front overlap. It scored a “Good” in most of the categories, but in the small overlap drivers side and also in a side crash it scored only an “Acceptable” rating. It also scored a poor rating for headlight performance.

2019 GMC Canyon Extended Cab

See Chevy Colorado Extended Cab

2019 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab

Nissan’s Frontier rated the lowest in the IIHS testing. Its mixed scores included marginal ratings in both drivers side and passenger side small front overlap and an acceptable score for head restraints and seats. No score was given for front crash prevention, but it did receive a poor rating for headlight performance.

2019 Nissan Frontier Extended Cab

The Extended Cab version of the Frontier scored nearly identical to the Crew Cab version except in the “child latch ease of use” where it got an acceptable score while the Crew Cab got a marginal score.