I Dug Into Why Only Two Small Pickups Won an IIHS Safety Award

IIHS safety awards spotlight the 2024 Toyota Tacoma and Hyundai Santa Cruz as compact pickup leaders, despite notable testing flaws.

I have a confession: I read safety-testing results the way some people read fantasy football stats. When the IIHS releases a new batch of scores, I grab coffee, open the spreadsheet, and mutter things like, 'Of course the headlights ruined it.' So when I went back through the compact pickup safety story from the 2024 award cycle, I was not surprised that the small-truck segment had been a brutal neighborhood. I was surprised that only two trucks escaped with a trophy: the 2024 Toyota Tacoma and the 2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz. Now that we are in 2026, I still think this is a useful reality check, because the IIHS does not hand out awards like participation medals.

Here is the short version, served with a side of my deeply unscientific commentary:

Truck	Award result	What impressed me	What made me sigh
2024 Toyota Tacoma	Top Safety Pick	Strong crashworthiness scores and a high score in front crash prevention	Headlights were only acceptable, and the child restraint anchors were apparently hiding in a witness protection program
2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz	Top Safety Pick	High scores in most categories	Moderate scores in the newer updated moderate overlap front test and the vehicle-to-vehicle 2.0 front crash prevention test

In 2023, none of the small pickups qualified for the Top Safety Pick award. The usual suspects in this category included the Chevy Colorado, Ford Ranger, Hyundai Santa Cruz, Jeep Gladiator, Nissan Frontier, and Toyota Tacoma. That is a full roster of trucks people actually buy, and every single one of them got left out. I imagine the IIHS testing lab looked like a group project where nobody remembered to bring the poster board.

The rules are not exactly a secret handshake, but they are strict. To earn the lower Top Safety Pick award, a truck has to earn high scores in all the main categories. It also needs an acceptable or good rating in the pedestrian front crash prevention evaluation, plus a good headlight rating across all trim levels. That last part is where things get spicy. Automakers love to put fancy headlights on the expensive trims and, shall we say, optimistic candles on the cheaper ones. The IIHS notices. The IIHS always notices.

The Tacoma mostly behaved like the teacher's pet. It proved safe in the main crashworthiness tests and earned a high score in front crash prevention. The headlights only earned an acceptable rating, though, and the LED projector lights fell short because they were not curve adaptive, which did not provide enough visibility. I am picturing a Tacoma owner squinting at a dark country road and saying, 'Well, at least the crash test went well.' The child restraints were also difficult to find, which is the automotive equivalent of losing your keys in a jacket you are already wearing.

Small trucks can have a tougher time in testing because they are more compact and more affordable, which can sometimes mean fewer safety systems. That is the old excuse, anyway. Automakers have worked hard to change it by implementing standard safety systems across all trim levels. Toyota and Hyundai took the 2023 shutout personally, and both trucks came back safer for 2024. I respect that energy. It is much better than the alternative, which is pretending a compact truck is safe because it has a rugged sticker.

The Santa Cruz had a more mixed report card. It received more testing than the Tacoma, and it earned lower scores on some of that newer testing. That can happen when a vehicle is tested later, meaning the tests are newer and more rigorous. The Santa Cruz earned a moderate score in the updated moderate overlap front test and the front crash prevention vehicle-to-vehicle 2.0 test. Since those are newer tests, Hyundai will likely take those scores and implement changes to make the Santa Cruz safer in those segments next year. In all other categories, it earned high scores. So it is not a safety disaster. It is more like a B-plus student who got a surprise pop quiz in a subject nobody warned them about.

IIHS testing is ongoing throughout the year, but the Santa Cruz and Tacoma were the only two small pickups that qualified in that cycle. I am not going to pretend the 2024 scorecard is the final word in 2026. Safety tests evolve, and an award from two years ago is not a lifetime pass. But if you are shopping for a small pickup and you care about crash scores, these two deserve a closer look. Safety is a top priority for buyers, and Toyota and Hyundai took that seriously. I just wish every automaker would take headlights seriously too, because apparently that is where dreams go to die.