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New cars are safer in crashes than they've ever been (at least for their occupants), but better safety standards didn't just appear out of nowhere. Part of that came from government mandates, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's crash tests have played as much, if not more of a role there. To understand just how ridiculously safe new cars are, all you really need to do is read this story about an Ford F-150 driver who survived a fall off a 300-foot cliff. But those are passenger vehicles. The U.S. has different standards for commercial vehicles, and the IIHS has decided its time to test them, too.
We first heard about these plans earlier this year, then in June, the IIHS released the results of its first evaluation focused on comparing safety features. Among cargo vans, the 2025 Ram ProMaster 2500 and the electric 2025 Chevrolet BrightDrop 400 stood out as the only ones with effective driver seatbelt reminders. Of the trucks tested, the 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD and 2025 Ford F-350 both passed the seatbelt reminder check, while the 2026 Ram 3500 did not.
Now the IIHS has published the results of its next evaluation in the series: a test of how well each vehicle's crash avoidance systems work. Turns out, "cargo vans and heavy-duty pickups lag behind passenger vehicles when it comes to front crash prevention." The IIHS also wrote that "marginal and poor ratings are common among the first commercial vehicles put through the vehicle-to-vehicle and pedestrian crash avoidance tests. Still, in each test, there is at least one good performer, showing that meeting the challenge is not out of reach for manufacturers." So at least there's that.
Vans > trucks
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In a statement, IIHS President David Harkey said, "These results are a wake-up call for commercial vehicle makers. Front crash prevention is especially important for these larger, heavier vans and trucks because of the danger they pose to other road users."
Also concerning is the fact that the best vans significantly outperformed the trucks. The best vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention score went to the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500, while the Chevrolet BrightDrop 400 and Rivian RCV-Delivery 500 performed about the same in the pedestrian crash avoidance test. In vehicle-to-vehicle testing, Chevy's BrightDrop earned an acceptable rating, and both the Rivian and the Ram were rated as marginal. Every other vehicle in that test received a poor rating.
If there's a bright spot here, it's probably that the pedestrian crash avoidance results weren't full of nearly as many poor performers. The Chevrolet Express 2500 and GMC Savana 2500 got Ps, and the Ford Transit T250, Ram ProMaster 2500, Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD, and GMC Sierra 3500 earned Ms. Even better, the Sprinter, Ford F-350, and Ram 3500 each received an acceptable rating.
Of course, we all want to see the videos of these vehicles being crash tested, but the fact that the IIHS is taking on commercial vehicle safety is a pretty big deal. Over the next several years, expect to see commercial vans and work trucks get safer. And yes, safety matters with work vehicles. As the IIHS points out, "in 2024, 6,215 people were killed in crashes involving heavy- or medium-duty vehicles or light vans, accounting for 16% of all roadway fatalities in the U.S."