Four large pickups offer strong protection in side crashes but fall short when it comes to protecting passengers in the back seat. The Ram 1500 crew cab, Ford F-150 crew cab, and Toyota Tundra crew cab — all 2023 models — earn good ratings in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) updated side crash test, while the 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 crew cab is rated acceptable.

However, in the updated moderate overlap front crash test, which now emphasizes back seat safety, only the Tundra manages a marginal rating. The F-150, Ram 1500, and Silverado are rated poor. In the updated test, a second dummy is positioned in the second row behind the driver. The driver dummy is the size of an average adult man. The rear dummy is the size of a small woman or 12-year-old child. IIHS researchers also developed new metrics that focus on the injuries most frequently seen in back seat passengers.

For a vehicle to earn a good rating, there can’t be an excessive risk of injury to the head, neck, chest, or thigh, as recorded by the second-row dummy. The dummy should remain correctly positioned during the crash without “submarining,” or sliding forward beneath the lap belt, which increases the risk of abdominal injuries. The head should also remain a safe distance from the front seatback and the rest of the vehicle interior, and the shoulder belt should remain on the shoulder, where it is most effective.

All four pickups provided good protection in the front seat. But the restraint systems in the rear were inadequate. “Submarining was a problem for all four pickups, and belt forces were too high in all but the Tundra,” IIHS President David Harkey said.

Measurements taken from the rear dummy indicated that chest injuries and head or neck injuries would likely occur in the F-150 and Ram 1500. The risk of those injuries was somewhat lower but still excessive in the Silverado. For the Tundra, the risk of chest injuries was also too high due to poor belt positioning, but the risk of head or neck injuries was only slightly elevated.

The updated side test was introduced to address higher-speed crashes that are still causing fatalities, even in vehicles that excelled in the original evaluation. In this test, the good-rated F-150, Ram 1500, and Tundra provided solid protection in front and back, though the occupant compartment of the F-150 was compromised slightly by the impact. There was an elevated risk of chest injury to the rear passenger in the acceptable-rated Silverado.