The Cybertruck is the only pickup with an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ for 2026

Updated 2026-09-16.

The safest pickup you can buy in 2026 is the one people said would never pass a crash test. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has awarded the 2026 Cybertruck a Top Safety Pick+, its highest rating, and it is the only pickup truck of any kind tested to earn it. Not the only full-size. The only pickup, period.

For a vehicle that spent its first two years as a punchline about stainless steel and pedestrian safety, that is a remarkable reversal, and it is one that came from the test rig rather than from Tesla's marketing.

What the IIHS tested

Top Safety Pick+ is not one score. It requires good ratings in the small overlap front test, the updated moderate overlap front test that now includes a rear-seat dummy, the updated side test with a heavier, faster barrier, plus acceptable-or-better headlights on every trim and a good pedestrian front crash prevention system.

The Cybertruck scored good in every crash category. Teslarati's report on the award notes that the updated moderate overlap test is the one that trips up most large trucks, because a heavy vehicle that protects the front seats often does so at the expense of the rear passenger. The Cybertruck passed it.

The two marks against it were small: an acceptable rating for seat belt reminders, and the ease of use of the LATCH child-seat anchors. Neither is a crash-performance issue, and neither kept it off the top tier.

Why the stainless truck did well

There was a widespread assumption that a stiff stainless steel exoskeleton would transfer crash energy to the occupants instead of absorbing it. The IIHS results say the opposite. The structure that resists dents on the outside sits over a conventional crumple architecture, and the front underbody is designed to fold in a controlled way. CarBuzz went further and called it the safest American-made car of 2026 across every category the IIHS scores, not just trucks.

The pedestrian front crash prevention result matters too, because that was the loudest criticism of the design. A good rating there means the truck's cameras and braking stop for a person in the road in the daytime and at night, at the speeds the IIHS tests.

How it compares with the rest of the segment

The IIHS tests large pickups as their own class, and the class has struggled with the 2026 criteria. The updated moderate overlap test added a rear-seat dummy in 2023, and the heavier side barrier arrived a year later; several trucks that held a Top Safety Pick under the old rules dropped off the list when the bar moved. A handful of mid-size and full-size pickups from other makers earned the lower Top Safety Pick this year. None reached the plus tier. That is the gap the Cybertruck cleared on its own, and it did so on its second model year rather than after a decade of refinement.

The price note

The same Cars.com piece that reported the award also reported that the base dual-motor trim now starts at $76,985 including a $1,995 destination fee, after two increases in as many months. It is worth knowing if you are shopping, and it does not change the safety result. The truck earned the rating at every price it has been sold at.

What it means for the Cybertruck's story

The Cybertruck has always been the most polarizing Tesla, and most of that was about the shape. A safety award from an independent body that has no reason to like Tesla changes the register of the conversation. Owners have been buying it in growing numbers all year, and now the reply to "is that thing even safe" is a link.

It also fits the truck's other advantage. The flat stainless panels that made people nervous in a crash are the reason it is the easiest Tesla to design for. Large flat surfaces, no compound curves, and artwork that lands on the truck exactly where you drew it. That is why the Cybertruck wraps collection is the biggest on the site, and why designs made for it look sharper on the screen than on any other model.

If you own one, or are about to, the truck's screen is the one place you can change the look in a minute. Open the studio, pick the Cybertruck, and put the safest pickup in America in something that looks like it.