The Chevrolet Express 2500 and the GMC Savana 2500, two of the most familiar white work vans on American streets, both earned Poor ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in vehicle-to-vehicle and pedestrian front crash prevention. The reason is simple. Neither van has automatic emergency braking, and forward collision warning is the only crash-avoidance feature offered on them, as an option. IIHS published the results on Oct. 8, 2026, in a round of testing that covered seven cargo vans.
IIHS President David Harkey called the results “a wake-up call for commercial vehicle makers.” He said front crash prevention is “especially important for these larger, heavier vans and trucks,” a point the institute backs with a fatality count: 6,215 people died in 2024 in crashes involving heavy- or medium-duty vehicles or light vans.
Express and Savana: Poor on both counts
The IIHS ratings table lists the 2025-27 Chevrolet Express 2500 and the 2025-27 GMC Savana 2500 as Poor for vehicle-to-vehicle prevention and Poor for pedestrian prevention. The two vans are close mechanical relatives sold through different General Motors brands, so identical results are not a surprise. What stands out is the cause the institute gives: the Express and Savana lack automatic emergency braking altogether and, in the institute’s words, offer only forward collision warning as an option.
A warning alone depends on the driver reacting in time. In the vehicle-to-vehicle tests IIHS evaluates both the warning and the automatic braking at several speeds, and it marks systems down when an alert arrives too late even if the van eventually slows. A van with no braking system to fall back on has little room to earn credit under that scheme.
The 6,215 deaths figure needs careful reading. It covers all crashes involving heavy- or medium-duty vehicles or light vans, and IIHS says it amounts to 16 percent of U.S. roadway fatalities. It does not isolate cargo vans, and it does not say how many of those deaths a braking system would have prevented. It does show why the institute has widened its scrutiny of commercial vehicles beyond the pickups and sedans that dominate its usual ratings.
Five other vans, five different outcomes
The Express and Savana were not the only vans to struggle, but they were the only two rated Poor in both tests. The Ford Transit T250 and the Ram ProMaster 2500 each earned Poor in vehicle-to-vehicle prevention and Marginal for pedestrians. The Rivian RCV-Delivery 500 was Marginal on vehicle-to-vehicle and Good on pedestrians. The Chevrolet BrightDrop 400 earned Acceptable and Good, and the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 earned Good and Acceptable, the strongest vehicle-to-vehicle result among the seven.
The full test group was the Express 2500, the Savana 2500, the Ford Transit T250, the Ram ProMaster 2500, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500, the Chevrolet BrightDrop 400 and the Rivian RCV-Delivery 500. Model years vary by van: the Transit, Sprinter and Rivian entries are 2025 models, the BrightDrop is 2025-26, and the ProMaster covers 2025-27, like the Express and Savana. IIHS grades on a four-step scale of Good, Acceptable, Marginal and Poor, so a Poor sits at the very bottom, two full steps below the Acceptable earned by the BrightDrop.
The spread matters for fleet buyers. A delivery company shopping for vans in 2026 can find a model that scores Good against a car ahead, yet the best-selling nameplates on the road today sit at the bottom of the table. IIHS noted that each test had at least one good performer, which suggests the engineering is within reach for manufacturers willing to fit it.
Test protocols borrowed from passenger cars
IIHS ran the vans through the same vehicle-to-vehicle and pedestrian protocols and rating requirements it applies to passenger vehicles. The pedestrian trials cover daytime and nighttime crossings by an adult or a child, plus an adult walking in the travel lane, with nighttime runs repeated on low and high beams. Several vans picked up the child dummy from a distance and then lost it as they closed in, which the institute suggests may relate to the child’s height and the vans’ tall front ends, since the sensors sit near the rearview mirror.
The institute is not stopping with front crash prevention. It plans to add headlight and rear automatic braking ratings for Class 3 vehicles this year and next, and to phase in testing of Class 4 through 6 trucks later. Its commercial vehicles hub collects that work, and in June it launched a separate evaluation of driver protection in commercial vehicles.
For now the practical question belongs to the buyers and to General Motors. The Express 2500 and Savana 2500 are listed for model years 2025 through 2027, so the vans on dealer lots this fall carry the same equipment that earned the Poor marks. Whether the company adds automatic braking is a decision the institute has put squarely in front of it, with a named president calling the results a wake-up call.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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