The Rivian R1T became the only new pickup in the United States to wear the Top Safety Pick+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) after the results from the updated moderate overlap front test came in.
Previously this year, when the aforementioned results were still pending, the American all-electric pickup had a Top Safety Pick badge given to it by the IIHS, but now the truck just leveled up. That said, before the introduction of the updated moderate overlap test, the R1T had the Top Safety Pick+ award under its belt in 2022 and 2023.
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The IIHS lists the Rivian R1T as the safest pickup it ever tested
The all-electric Rivian R1T is the only pickup truck tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) to get the Top Safety Pick+ award after the introduction of an updated moderate front overlap crash test.
The updated test adds a dummy in the back seat to record the impact forces during an impact.
To get a Top Safety Pick+ award this year from the insurance industry-backed non-profit organization, a vehicle must earn an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating in the updated moderate overlap front test, as well as "Good" ratings in the small overlap front test and the updated side test, and acceptable- or good-rated headlights across all trim levels. An "Acceptable" or "Good" rating in the pedestrian front crash prevention test is also required.
The main difference between the old and the new moderate overlap front test is the addition of a test dummy in the rear seat during the updated test. In the case of the R1T, the forces recorded by the dummy sensors showed a low risk of injury to the head, neck, and chest.
In IIHS’s testing, the 2024 Rivian R1T received "Good" ratings in all categories except the front pedestrian crash prevention which was rated as "Adequate" by the non-profit.
In total, the IIHS website lists just 23 vehicles that checked all the necessary boxes to receive the Top Safety Pick+ award. Just two other EVs–the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Genesis Electrified G80–are on it.
The base Top Safety Pick list is longer because a good rating in the original moderate overlap test is sufficient to get the award. That said, only two other gas-powered pickup trucks are present: the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Toyota Tundra.
