Yes, the Rivian R1T smashed it, earning the Institute’s highest rating of Top Safety Pick+, an impressive feat considering that the new Toyota Tundra is the only other truck to earn such a rating. But why is that? To find out, we’ll have to look at how this rating is assigned. But first, a little explainer on what makes the R1T so different from most other pickup trucks. For starters, there’s the method of construction. If you crawl underneath a Ford F-150, a Chevrolet Silverado 1500, or a Ram 1500, you’ll see a body and a truck bed bolted separately to a ladder frame using a bunch of rubber isolators to take up slack and keep things quiet. By contrast, the R1T starts with a welded perimeter frame without central crossmembers, then bolts it directly to a single body that incorporates a cab and bed without any isolators between body and frame. You can get a great look at Rivian’s architecture in this video by Munro Live.
In addition, the Rivian R1T is a whole lot heavier than a full-size half-ton truck, clocking in at almost 800 pounds heavier than a Ram TRX when equipped with quad motors. Nobody’s really made a truck like this before, which makes crash testing it all the more intriguing.
Back to what Top Safety Pick+ means. For starters, there’s the driver’s side moderate overlap front impact test, IIHS’ bread and butter. Without it, IIHS likely wouldn’t have built such a reputation for passive safety testing, as the moderate overlap test forced carmakers to change how their products were made. (Remember, the IIHS is an independent nonprofit organization funded by insurance companies; its tests are different from the “official” star-based ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.) After all, the previous industry standard of a full-width barrier impact isn’t the most realistic of tests and allows crash forces to be spread out across both front chassis rails. There’s just one problem with the moderate overlap test: Because the test has been around so long, virtually everything does well on it. The Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Ram 1500 and Toyota Tundra all earn the top rating of Good in this test. So, nothing here to differentiate the R1T from the rest of the pack. Still, the Rivian’s stiff body structure is quite fascinating to watch bounce off of the barrier.
Alright, so what about the tough one, the small-overlap barrier test? This one involves only a quarter of a vehicle’s width contacting the barrier, putting immense pressure on vehicles’ A-pillars, footwell structures, and sills. Known for folding many cars from the last decade into cubes, surely this will separate the safe from the sketchy, right? While the Rivian R1T showed some deformation through ripples in the roof, the front wheel broke away from the vehicle and a reasonably sound safety cage earned the truck the top mark of good. On the flip side, the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab was barred from even a regular Top Safety Pick rating due to a marginal rating on the passenger-side small-overlap test. However, the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 both get top marks in small-overlap testing yet only receive a Top Safety Pick rating. What gives?
Perhaps we’ll find answers in side-impact testing. Or not, as both the Ram and the Ford also do well here. It’s the same deal for the roof crush test pictured above. The same goes for head restraint testing where a seat is mounted to a rig, as well as testing of available automatic emergency braking testing against cars and pedestrians. So what the hell does the plus symbol actually denote? In fact, the only thing that differentiates a Top Safety Pick+ vehicle from a regular Top Safety Pick vehicle is decent headlights being standard, rather than optional. Good headlights are important, but that plus is doing some very heavy lifting here.
So, if you’re shopping for a new truck, take solace in knowing that the Ram 1500, Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra, and Rivian R1T all pack similar levels of passive safety and similarly-advanced automatic emergency braking according to IIHS testing. Get the right spec of the F-150 and Ram 1500, and you’ll have good headlights too. Still, kudos to Rivian for making a safe truck, especially considering it’s the marque’s first shot at a vehicle. (Photo credits: IIHS)
Watch IIHS Slam An Old Ford F-150 Overloaded To 9,500 Pounds Into A Barrier In The Name Of EV Crash Testing Rivian’s Got A Bug Problem – And Not Just The Software Kind Engineering Firm Munro & Associates Shows The Fascinating Way The Rivian R1T’s Tonneau Cover Folds Like A Pez Dispenser Our Daydreaming Designer Imagines The Perfect Little Escape Pod-Car For Your Big Truck Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage. Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member. I care less about having obscenely bright headlights that just blind everyone else on the road and more about having smart headlights that steer with the car so you can see as you’re going around curves. That’s the killer visibility feature. Aftermarket LEDs mostly blind other drivers while giving you the impression that they’re doing a good job while actually not functionally improving your night visibility. Save the $30 for a high-quality set of regular replacement bulbs. Wish more cars got ticketed for lighting atrocities. Off road only fog replacements (coughtoyotatacomacoughtoyota4runnercough), stupid headlights (poorly aimed or incorrectly bulbed), REAR FOG LIGHTS ON WHEN YOUR FRONTS SHOULDN’T EVEN BE ON! Ugh. I’ve seen people brag about being flashed by people thinking their highbeams were on, so I don’t think you’re getting the message across. Let’s see them do outward visibility next. When do we thing the IIHS will add a meteor rating? If you think this thing is bad, you should see the Lightning. I wish more full size pickups were more reasonably sized like the Rivian is. There’s just no reason for the bulk. It makes them worse vehicles to live with. It makes the blind spots worse. It makes them less safe for everybody around them.
