IIHS Raises Bar for 2018 Top Safety Awards
Each year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety releases a list of Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick Plus awards for each automotive class in the U.S. For model-year 2018, IIHS has toughened the standards that must be met to qualify for these top two designations, so not as many vehicles qualify. Among them is just one pickup truck.
To qualify as a Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must now receive an advanced or superior rating for front crash protection and an acceptable or good headlight rating in addition to good ratings in the agency's five standard crash tests. To achieve the Top Safety Pick Plus designation, a vehicle now must get an advanced or superior rating for front crash protection, a good headlight rating, good ratings in the agency's five standard crash tests and an acceptable or good rating in the new passenger-side small overlap front test.
Headlight updates recently made the 2018 Ford F-150 eligible for Top Safety Pick consideration; however, these tougher standards mean it didn't make the grade. It does retain that designation for the 2017 model year, but not for 2018. The tougher standards also knocked the Honda Ridgeline off its Top Safety Pick Plus pedestal, which it achieved for model-year 2017. For 2018, the Ridgeline gets the Top Safety Pick award, while the F-150 is the only other mid-size or full-size pickup (to date, IIHS has not tested HD pickup) to receive good ratings in the most recent crashworthiness testing, but scored poor in headlights.
To some — and we're guessing automakers might be in this group — this may seem like a classic case of "moving the goal posts," requiring manufacturers to meet higher standards each year to achieve the same award. However, when it comes to safety, maybe keeping the big automakers motivated to come to market with the best safety technology isn't such a bad thing.
Cars.com photos by Angela Conners; IIHS image
Comments
If we're going to include the Honda Ridgeline, why not include a few other sedans as well?
F150 is junk as usual. GM wins and Ford loses again Hahaha!
The government and the insurance industry have been driving up the price of new cars/trucks for decades.
Today's new pickups sell for a price that would have paid for a 3bed/2-bath family home in the suburbs not that long ago. Does the government care? Evidently not.
Does the insurance industry care? Hell no!
The higher prices of new cars/trucks means that the insurance premiums for insuring YOUR new car or truck keeps going up. The point of diminishing returns on auto safety was achieved long ago.
GM IS KNOW TO BE GARBAGE MOTORS COMPANY AKA GMC PERIOD. THAT’S WHY FORD SELLS MORE TRUCKS THAN GARBAGE MOTORS IF YOU GO APPLES TO APPLES AND WITH ONLY ONE BRANCH NOT TWO HAHAHAHAH.
And the three first post are Jonny dlto’s post. Hahahahahahhahaha.
And the three first post are Jonny dlto’s post. Hahahahahahhahaha.
Notice how all the headlights suck except GM with upper trim levels which I think are brightest ever seen! Because they re not a reflector style light.
So no pick up trucks passed. The Ridgeline is an open SUV platform. Not knocking its safety and Honda does make an excellent vehicle.
F150 is junk as usual. GM wins and Ford loses again Hahaha!
Posted by: GMS | Dec 9, 2017 10:48:08 AM
It is unfortunate that you you did not read the chart prior spouting off with such non sense.
Sorry Chevy boys. LOL
Top Safety Pick award, while the F-150 is the only other mid-size or full-size pickup to receive good ratings in the most recent crashworthiness testing,
The IIHS only exists to protect the insurance industry. Its goal is to reduce costs of vehicle damage and personal injury payouts by insurance companies. The ratings of vehicles go into the calculations for insurance premiums. The "safety" aspect is only marketing.
@papajim
LOL. LOL.
@RAM 1500
OUCH. OUCH.
Top Safety Pick award, while the F-150 is the only other mid-size or full-size pickup to receive good ratings in the most recent crashworthiness testing,
Posted by: Blueman | Dec 9, 2017 1:29:09 PM
Don't you drive a 2015 Supercab?
https://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Ford-F-150-IIHS-small-overlap-front-SuperCab-e1438276513187.jpg
I think the driver will need to be cut from that wreck.
I see papajim still hating on Ridgeline.
Ridgeline is on Honda Global Light Pickup Truck Platform.
So Honda Odyssey, Pilot, Acura MDX share the same platform.
The platform was designed for the Honda Ridgeline pickup truck but the MDX got it first followed by Pilot then Ridgeline and latest Odyssey. People for get that Ridgeline is modified for pickup truck duty. 50% parts are different form Pilot Bearings Hubs knuckles in Pilot are heavier then Ridgeline but Ridgeline Knuckles are stronger. Rear suspension different internal components including dampers. Pilot uses hard plastic tube Ridgeline has metal. Then you have the bed itself structural difference having bed.
So what's the difference with a big old Body on Frame SUV like Navigator or Escalade Tahoe and others using the truck frame structure components of say F-150, Silverado for their Full size SUVs.
Ram should be ashamed of themselves for producing such an unsafe vehicle.
good thing F-150 has good crash rating, cause the headlights suck, not to mention ugly
@ RIDGELINE OWNER 2007
Your feelings are very easily hurt. You wouldn't last five minutes around my deer camp.
Jeff S and RIDGELINE OWNER 2007 wouldn't last 30 seconds in a live debate with papajim. Give them the 30 second liberal clock and it would be all over. How does it feel to be a mouthpiece for Honda?
@RIDGELINE OWNER 2007--All that matters is that you like your Ridgeline. Papa hates any Honda or Ford product.
@Chris--Too bad you can't think for yourself. I don't recall commenting on this article but if makes you feel better then ok. Fake news.
@ Don.E
Reductions in personal injury is in fact safety .
good thing F-150 has good crash rating, cause the headlights suck, not to mention ugly
Posted by: Water | Dec 9, 2017 4:59:01 PM
Your brand is More Ugly, poor headlights and less crash worthy.
Does the Honda come with a Takata Airbag? You know the ones that have killed over a dozen teenagers in Honda civics. Ratings don't matter so much when your Airbag shoots buck shot into your neck!
Headlights now determine the truck is safe or not, what a bunch of liberal and government overreach!
This is why the government is getting less respectable by the year!
Determine safety by making your own criteria folks, stop making the government make decisions of what is safe or not! I refuse to accept these bullshyt criteria to make trucks weaker and weaker as time passes by because of some liberal bullshyt!
Chevy and GMC beats F-150 again in saftey
The F-150 Supercrew is the #1 LOWEST in insurance claims.
source: Jan. 2018 Car and Driver Magazine, page 20
The lights on my ZR2 are really good, they do not blind oncoming traffic and I can see where I am going, what else do they want?
On the old desert highway with my brights on, it gives me a long wide beam of light. I can see into the distance and also in to the ditches.
Headlights now determine the truck is safe or not, what a bunch of liberal and government overreach!
This is why the government is getting less respectable by the year!
OXI, The IIHS is not the government.
Having information on headlight performance allows consumers to make informed decisions. You always have the right to make the choice that is best for you.
@RIDGELINE OWNER 2007--All that matters is that you like your Ridgeline. Papa hates any Honda
----
@Jeff S, Papa doesn't hate. He is educating you. And sometimes he uses humor to illustrate absurdity. Prepare to be educated when papa returns. You need to be educated.
@ Casual Observer of Fools,
I do not care what institute states what to get a bogus 5-star rating line of bullcr/p!
Just look at what they are doing to the auto industry with auto-braking, lane departure, etc...
They are actually encouraging poor driving habits because the computer will fix it all. Humans need to just learn how to drive properly and pay attention while driving period!
They are selling bullshyt because inner city folks are so stupid, they cannot pay attention for 10 seconds on the road today! Put the f-in phone down and focus on the road ahead!
Ford offers two types of headlights on the F150, depending on which trim level you order. I find mind to be excellent. I wonder which type they found to be unacceptable. Of course most pickups suffer from the problem of headlights point too far down when the truck is empty and too high when the truck is loaded. As far as I know only Ram has effectively dealt with this issue with their auto leveling air suspensions and those are only installed on a few trucks. I would like to see that on more trucks.
@ Walt they rated the LED Headlights on the F-150 poor also.
@ Oxi some of your same arguments with driving aids were around 25yrs ago when many cars were adding Anti-lock braking systems.
@oxi I think the average inner city or urban driver would encounter more driving hazards then a rural or country driver.
Been driving inner city for 40yrs and interstate like 95 and beltways of Washington, DC 495 & Baltimore 695.
At 16 my father put my out on New Jersey Turnpike on our road trip from NY.
But urban driving you encounter more pedestrians busses taxi heavier traffic. This is normal stuff for urban driver but here in DC
now we encounter many bikes as it's now considered a bike-friendly city. I think DC ranks 9th but these bike people ride crazy not stopping at traffic lights and stopping they think they always have right away. this has become more problem in last 5yrs. We also have new type of jogger/runner young 20s-30s newcomers to city. They run/jog but when get to intersection to cross street don't stop at sidewalk just run across in front of oncoming car and think you are going to stop on a dime.
Pedestrian have right away at crosswalk but running into the crosswalk like the car is just going to slam on brakes. This is new stuff they are doing didn't encounter that even 3years ago.
So I embrace these new technology don't want full self driving vehicles but driver aids are okay.
"@ Casual Observer of Fools,
I do not care what institute states what to get a bogus 5-star rating line of bullcr/p!
Just look at what they are doing to the auto industry with auto-braking, lane departure, etc...
Posted by: oxi | Dec 10, 2017 9:25:22 AM"
I wonder how well auto braking works with deer and other wildlife. Where I live deer are probably single biggest cause of accidents. The certainly don't give much warning and can be hard to see in the dark.
@ RIDGELINE OWNER 2007,
So you are advocating more government controls over your lives, pathetic!
If a pedestrian walks out in front of you and you have the right of way, and you hit their sorry rear for not paying attention, I have little sympathy for those type of liberal inner city folk!
Pay attention as a driver and as a pedestrian, it's that simple!
If you want to walk out in front of me because you are a sorry human not paying attention, your rear is going to get smacked by my heavy truck, and you will be paying for the damage on my truck as you recover from your injuries!
The government is what keeps us safe so I am willing to give up some of my freedom for a little safety. By the way, a lot of the papajims keep a gun at their homes for safety are the same ones who refuse to wear a seat belt.
@ Trucker,
Are you for real?
The government does not keep you safe, that is the biggest joke! Safety is YOUR responsibility, not the government's!
Giving up freedom means you are giving up on this nation! Fools like you are the reason we are going down the path of a totalitarian state like the Nazi's had! 1984 is what you desire!
I wear my seatbelt because I have raced before! I also have weapons for my personal protection in the defense of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness! The government does not provide for this and I refuse to be defenseless for the 10-15 minutes it takes law enforcement to respond!
Good luck with a criminal for 10-15 minutes on your own!
Looking forward to better headlights. The small front overlap is what really matters. A vehicle costing more than 25K should have top scores in crash protection.
So looking at the 2018 Tundra on IIHS, they did not test the low-speed autobrake, high-speed autobrake, and the headlihgts they tested were the halogen reflector (not the new LED headlamps).
Seems premature for IIHS to post the Tundra's ratings (with the new Toyota Safety Sense) when they didn't even fully test the new safety equipment!
I am also confused how the halogen headlights got a marginal rating in 2018, but received a poor rating in 2014-2017. Simply adding auto-high beam assist bumps you up from poor to marginal on the headlight rating? Even though the output is still the exact same as previous model years?
@Trucker
Your bigotry knows no bounds!
I do not have a gun in my house. I have GUNS (plural) in my house. For the same reason I keep German Shepherds.
The gun is my friend; the dog is my companion. The dog has more personality, but the guns don't chew on my shoes.
I always wear the seat belt.
"The F-150 Supercrew is the #1 LOWEST in insurance claims.
source: Jan. 2018 Car and Driver Magazine, page 20
Posted by: smallPP | Dec 10, 2017 5:25:29 AM"
I just verified that and indeed you are correct but I do want to add that the numbers are dollars per vehicle for the lowest cost of ownership due to collisions.
I still believe that my 2016 Lariet has the best headlights of any vehicle that I have ever owned. Maybe I don't know what I am missing but I don't know where Consumer Reports got the idea that the headlights are deficient. I do love the auto-hi beam in my truck. I can't believe that it would cost very much to add to all vehicles and feel that it should be mandatory for public safety.
"@Trucker
Your bigotry knows no bounds!
I do not have a gun in my house. I have GUNS (plural) in my house. For the same reason I keep German Shepherds.
The gun is my friend; the dog is my companion. The dog has more personality, but the guns don't chew on my shoes.
I always wear the seat belt.
Posted by: papajim | Dec 11, 2017 8:12:17 AM"
This is my favorite statement that I have seen from you. I too always wear my seatbelt but do so because I think that it is smart to protect yourself within reason. I don't believe that the government has an business requiring us to. It is clearly not a power granted to the Feds by the constitution and was instituted through coersion, a practice that I find shameful for our government to be involved as well as an invasion of our personal liberty.
Not good to make this an issue of guns, this article is about IIHS. I do like the fact that vehicles are safer but at the same time you cannot protect someone that is careless from every known danger. You as a driver are still responsible for your own safety and for others. Drive responsibly.
Not nice to say someone would not be welcome at your gun club. I know guns are for hunting deer and that is fine if that is what you want to do. But this article is about IIHS cars, not hunting. Use responsibly.
I agree with Jeff S and Trucker. Hate has no home here.
The usual idiotic comments just get more and more difficult to stomach here with all the team "mine is better than yours " and name calling .
If you dont have a reasonably well thought out opinion just refrain from making the rest of us suffer through you. Keep it on topic ....
All new lights really need to improve on these trucks. They are much safer overall than they have ever been and the standard will continue to get better with each new generation of truck that comes to market.
The GM stuff was best when intro'd in '14 ....Ford upped the ante a bit with its new design a year later . Now Ram and GM are intro'ing new stuff shortly that will probably up the bar again. WE all win in crashes BUT the increased weight , cost , and complexity of all this new tech is the price we pay for being safer.
Active driving aids that take control of your vehicle from you should not be marketed as ‘safety’ features. They are just tools to aid a driver, and do not protect you in a crash. There is still a chance these features can cause accidents. Automatic dimming and bright features on headlights shouldn’t count as safety features either. Where I live people dim headlights almost a mile away from oncoming traffic. I haven’t used any auto dimming features that would work effectively for me, just anger oncoming traffic.
Also, he push for brighter headlights is more of a danger than a safety feature in my experience. I’ve never had problems seeing while driving vehicles that are given marginal to poor headlight scores, but am blinded by oncoming traffic nightly with the brighter ‘safer’ headlights.
Two more things.
CAFE standards have been putting people at risk for years already by putting efficiency standards in conflict with safety through weight cutting and other means. We don’t need the government telling us what vehicles we need.
Increasing safety requirements do not necessarily make anyone safer. There are safety options that are not required on vehicles that people choose to buy every day. Manufacturers can make and we can buy safer vehicles by our own choices. Requiring additional safety features raises the cost of new vehicles. For some people, a specific safety feature may be useless. (Pedestrian low speed safety rules for vehicles used only on highways or in remote areas) This can reduce safety by forcing a family to buy an older, less safe car to be able to afford the required safety features.
@ RIDGELINE OWNER 2007
Your feelings are very easily hurt. You wouldn't last five minutes around my deer camp.
Posted by: papajim | Dec 9, 2017 5:16:52 PM
What makes you think he wants to go to a gay's only deer camp?
Here is one that might be going a little too far on safety
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/12/gm-patents-exterior-airbag-pop-headlights-set-triumphant-return/
Papajim lost this one when he started hating on Honda for no reason and disinvited Jeff S to his gun club.
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