A five-star overall rating from NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program tells buyers a vehicle held up in front, side, and rollover crash tests better than most vehicles on sale. Pickup trucks carry extra weight and a taller center of gravity, so the distinction matters more here than in a compact sedan. Here are eight pickups that earned the federal program’s top overall mark.
1. Ford F-150: America’s Top Seller Passes Federal Testing
The F-150 posted a five-star overall score in NHTSA’s crash-test ratings, a result that spans separate front, side, and rollover evaluations rather than a single combined pass. Federal testers run full-size trucks through the same battery of frontal-barrier and side-pole impacts applied to passenger cars, then fold rollover resistance into the overall number, so a five-star mark on a vehicle this heavy is not a given.
That result carries extra weight because more F-150s reach American driveways each year than any other pickup or car sold in the country. A shopper cross-shopping trims, cabs, or drivetrains can treat the overall score as a baseline that held steady across the lineup’s tested configurations, rather than a figure tied to one narrow build.
2. Chevrolet Silverado 1500: A Full-Size Rival Matches The Top Score
The Silverado 1500 sits alongside the F-150 in the five-star overall tier once NHTSA runs the truck through its full battery of federal tests. The agency’s overall figure folds together separate frontal, side-barrier, side-pole, and rollover-resistance results, so a matching five-star outcome on a truck this size means the Silverado cleared every category instead of compensating for one weak result with a stronger one elsewhere.
For a buyer cross-shopping GM’s full-size truck against Ford’s, the identical overall tier removes crash protection as a deciding factor and shifts the comparison toward towing capacity, cab configuration, and trim pricing instead. The rating applies to the current generation’s tested configurations, not to every cab-and-bed combination sold under the nameplate.
3. GMC Sierra 1500: GM’s Other Full-Size Truck Ties The Result
GMC’s Sierra 1500 shares its body structure and safety hardware with the Silverado, and federal testers assign it the same five-star overall result as a consequence. Reviewing the Sierra’s platform history shows the truck has ridden on GM’s shared full-size architecture for generations, which is why crash performance tends to track its Chevrolet counterpart closely rather than diverging trim by trim.
Buyers drawn to the Sierra’s trim-specific features, like the Denali’s interior finishes, do not give up any crash-test standing to get them; the safety score matches the mechanically related Silverado exactly. Shoppers should still confirm the specific cab and drivetrain combination they want carries the same tested configuration before assuming the rating transfers automatically.
4. Ram 1500: Stellantis’s Half-Ton Clears The Same Bar
The Ram 1500 earned a five-star overall rating of its own, putting Stellantis’s half-ton truck in the same tier as its Ford and GM rivals. The Ram nameplate’s lineup history shows the truck split off from Dodge branding years ago, and the current generation carries an independent rear suspension the brand has marketed as a comfort and control advantage on top of its crash-test standing.
That combination gives shoppers comparing ride quality across the full-size field one less tradeoff to weigh, since the smoother-riding Ram does not sacrifice overall crash protection to get there. As with its rivals, the five-star mark reflects the tested trims and does not automatically extend to heavy-duty Ram models built on a different frame.
5. Toyota Tundra: Toyota’s Full-Size Entry Holds Its Own
The Tundra posted a five-star overall score as well, showing Toyota’s full-size truck keeps pace with the Detroit three on federal crash testing despite selling in smaller numbers. The current Tundra generation’s specifications point to a fully boxed frame and a standard suite of driver-assistance features across trims, both of which support consistent test outcomes.
Because the rating covers the truck broadly rather than a single premium trim, a buyer shopping the base SR does not receive a lesser-tested vehicle than someone buying the top Capstone trim. The result gives import-truck buyers a federal benchmark to point to alongside the segment’s domestic leaders on this list.
6. Honda Ridgeline: A Unibody Design Still Hits Five Stars
The Ridgeline earned its five-star overall rating using a unibody structure shared with Honda’s Pilot SUV, rather than the body-on-frame design every other truck on this list uses. The Ridgeline’s engineering background explains why the truck drives more like a car and channels crash forces differently than a traditional ladder-frame pickup, yet still lands in the same top overall tier.
For a buyer who wants pickup-bed utility without towing a heavy trailer, the Ridgeline’s score shows unibody construction is not a safety compromise in NHTSA’s testing. The tradeoff instead shows up in towing and off-road capability, where the Ridgeline trails the body-on-frame trucks that surround it on this list.
7. Toyota Tacoma: The Midsize Segment’s Best Seller Qualifies
The Tacoma joins the list as a midsize entry, earning strong federal marks that put America’s best-selling midsize truck in the same overall company as the full-size names above it. The Tacoma’s generational changes show Toyota redesigned the platform recently, carrying over a reputation for durability while updating the structure that federal crash programs test.
That combination gives a buyer who does not need full-size towing or payload capacity a smaller, easier-to-park option that still clears the same overall bar as its larger showroom neighbors. The result also reflects the segment’s growing popularity, since a top-selling midsize truck no longer means a compromise on tested crash protection.
8. Ford Ranger: Ford’s Smaller Truck Rounds Out The List
The Ranger closes out the list with a five-star overall result of its own, giving Ford a truck at both the full-size and midsize ends of its lineup that clears NHTSA’s top tier. The current Ranger generation’s platform is shared globally, and Ford has sold versions of this architecture in multiple markets before the truck returned to American showrooms.
A shopper drawn to Ford but priced out of a full-size F-150, or simply not needing one, gets the same overall crash-test tier in the smaller, more affordable Ranger. Both Ford trucks on this list carry the top rating, so the brand’s safety standing holds regardless of which size a buyer picks.
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