By Lou Cataldo
When shopping for a vehicle, safety is one of the most important criteria. Choosing a model that will keep you and your family safe on the road is paramount, and as a result, many resources have emerged to help prospective buyers make their decision.
One of the most trusted sources of vehicle safety information is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The group regularly crash tests new and updated models. The automobiles with the best performance in the various assessments earn the IIHS’ Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards.
This year’s winners have recently been announced, and while there are plenty of cars and SUVs that managed to earn an award, only a single vehicle in the pickup truck category won the Top Safety Pick+ honor. The model may surprise you because it's the Tesla Cybertruck, the sharp-edged pickup that has garnered significant controversy since before the vehicle's debut. Let’s take a closer look at the Cybertruck and how it scored so well with the IIHS.
The Cybertruck: An Unlikely Champion Of Automotive Safety
| 2026 Tesla Cybertruck Specs | |
| Powertrain | 2 electric motors / 3 electric motors |
| Horsepower | 593 hp / 834 hp |
| 0-60 | 3.9 seconds / 2.6 seconds |
| Drivetrain | AWD |
The Cybertruck is an all-electric pickup, Tesla’s first venture into the truck market. It is best known for its highly unusual appearance. The body has sharp edges and is completely devoid of any curves. Plus, the vehicle's shiny steel surfaces make it instantly stand out from anything else on the road.
The Cybertruck is available with two all-electric powertrains. There's a dual-motor option producing 593 hp, and a tri-motor version called the Cyberbeast, which produces a whopping 834 hp. The pickup's 0-60 times range from around 4.0 seconds for the dual-motor model to as little as 2.5 seconds for the performance-oriented Cyberbeast. A single-motor RWD option, producing 321 hp, was produced at the start of the Cybertruck’s lifespan, but the company has discontinued this variant.
While the Cybertruck achieved very good overall results in the IIHS’s test, there were a couple of areas where it still fell short. The vehicle received a “Good” grade (the highest level on the IIHS scale) on all fronts except two. The first area where it got a less-than-perfect score was the quality of the seat belt reminders, where it achieved a “Marginal” grade (second lowest out of four). The second was the ease of use of the LATCH child seat anchors, where it scored an “Acceptable” grade (second-highest, slotting in just after “Good”).
Nonetheless, the Cybertruck’s performance in the tests was highly impressive, and the fact that it has a Top Safety Pick+ award to its name should boost the model's reputation among consumers on the fence about buying one.
Safe... But Not Quite Bulletproof
While the Cybertruck has certainly made an impression thanks to its safety credentials, claims that it is “bulletproof” (made both by Tesla itself and by Cybertruck enthusiasts) are somewhat exaggerated. Thanks to the IIHS’s assessment, we can trust the Cybertruck to keep occupants safe on the road. However, encounters with a firearm are a different matter entirely.
The truck’s body is made out of “cold-rolled”, laser-cut steel that's 0.1 inches thick, built with both lightness and durability in mind. The unique manufacturing process involved ensures the Cybertruck is very good at absorbing impacts, more so than most traditional pickup trucks. It is also fairly resistant to minor damage such as scratches and dents, as well as corrosion.
Testing has shown that the Cybertruck’s body does provide a small amount of resistance against small arms, successfully stopping 9 mm and .45 ACP handgun rounds. However, the vehicle has not been tested to military or NIJ ballistic standards and most likely would not provide the same level of resistance to high-velocity rifle rounds.
The truck’s glass is another aspect that might not be quite as tough as the initial marketing hype made it seem. The model is equipped with armored windows made of a polymer-layered composite, built to withstand the impact of a Class 4 hailstone or a baseball traveling at 70 mph.
However, despite offering increased impact resistance, the glass is not rated for ballistic rounds. In other words, while there is a kernel of truth to Tesla’s statement, and the Cybertruck is certainly quite tough by civilian vehicle standards, it is not a true bulletproof vehicle by any means. Its good reputation for safety is limited to its on-road performance, rather than its capabilities on other fronts.
Read the full article on CarBuzz
This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
