The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released an update to its 2025 testing progress Wednesday, this time highlighting some early results from seven electric vehicles currently undergoing evaluation. The results? Mixed at best. So far, it looks like there will be no Top Safety Picks in this year’s crop, despite decent showings from several vehicles in this group.
IIHS is currently evaluating the 2025 BMW i4, Chevrolet Blazer EV, Ford F-150 Lightning, Nissan Ariya, Tesla Cybertruck, Tesla Model 3, and the Volkswagen ID Buzz. Apart from being EVs, they have very little in common, making it tricky to compare any of their results directly. But the Cybertruck and F-150 Lightning are on fairly even footing, and both of them have their up- and down-sides.
The Lightning’s weakest result came in the new moderate overlap test. This is one of IIHS’s tests designed to evaluate crashworthiness in more “glancing” head-on collisions. As the test’s name suggests, there’s more hood contact (40%) in this test than in the small overlap test, which has been around for quite some time now. Like the gasoline-powered F-150, the Lightning was rated only “marginal” in this test despite a good outcome for front passengers; the issues arose in the rear compartment.
“In the F-150 Lightning, measurements taken from the rear dummy showed a high risk of not only chest injuries but also injuries to the head or neck,” the IIHS release said. “In addition, the rear dummy’s lap belt moved from the ideal position on the pelvis onto the abdomen, which increases the risk of internal injuries.”
The Lightning has not yet been rated for front or side-impact crashes, but the gas version just about aced both tests in 2021.
On the flip side, the Tesla Cybertruck did just fine in the moderate overlap test, earning a “Good” rating, but with an asterisk. This result only applies to Cybertrucks built from April, 2025 on. What about the trucks built previous to that? We reached out to IIHS for clarification.
“Whenever we crash test a vehicle, we communicate with the automaker to understand which model years a rating can apply to. In this case, Tesla indicated they had made a change at that time that would affect how the vehicle performed in this type of crash, so the rating couldn’t be carried back to earlier models,” IIHS Director of Media Relations Joseph Young told us via email.
“Though we have limited information on what that change was, it seems that the change was related to improving crashworthiness,” he said. “You would need to reach out to Tesla to get more information on what the specific change was, however.”
And we did just that. We will update this story if Tesla provides any context.
But despite its impressive performance in the moderate overlap test, the Cybertruck is going to miss out on the Top Safety Pick nod anyway. Its headlights are to blame. Not a single vehicle in this group received a “good” rating for its headlights, but the Cybertruck was one of only two to receive the lowest possible rating, sharing that honor with the BMW i4. IIHS cited excessive glare from the low beams as a key reason for downgrading the Tesla’s standard headlamps from “marginal” to “poor.” For its part, the i4 offers an upgraded headlight that sucks less (“marginal”).
To qualify for Top Safety Pick, a car must receive “good” ratings in the small overlap and side crash tests, “acceptable” or “good” ratings for its headlights (available on all trims), and an “acceptable” or “good” rating in the pedestrian crash avoidance test. An “acceptable” rating in the moderate overlap is enough for Top Safety Pick; a “good” rating is required to qualify for Top Safety Pick+. So far, only the Ariya and Blazer have completed their testing regimens; neither met the criteria for an award.
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Byron is a contributing writer and auto reviewer with a keen eye for infrastructure, sales and regulatory stories.