Tesla’s Cybertruck Lands IIHS Top Safety Pick+, But Headlight Glare Keeps It From a Clean Sweep

Tesla just scored a safety win that matters in the U.S.: the Cybertruck has earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) Top Safety Pick+ award, the group’s highest designation.

But the fine print, and the headlights, complicate the victory. The Cybertruck aced the big crash tests and performed strongly in crash-avoidance tech, yet IIHS flagged its lighting for excessive glare, a real-world problem for anyone driving dark roads in rain or oncoming traffic at night.

What the IIHS award actually means, and which Cybertrucks qualify

The IIHS is a nonprofit research and testing organization backed by auto insurers, and its ratings carry real weight with families, insurers, and car shoppers. Top Safety Pick+ isn’t a participation trophy; it’s reserved for vehicles that perform at the top level across multiple crash tests and key safety tech evaluations.

Here’s the catch: IIHS says the Top Safety Pick+ applies only to Cybertrucks built after April 2025. That means two Cybertrucks that look identical on a lot may not be treated the same by the rating, depending on when they rolled off the line.

Crash tests: “Good” where it counts most

In the core crashworthiness tests, the Cybertruck posted the IIHS’s top rating of “Good” in several headline categories, including the small overlap front test, the updated moderate overlap front test, and the updated side impact test.

Those tests are central to IIHS credibility because they’re designed to mirror common, high-risk crashes with increasingly realistic forces. IIHS also rated the vehicle’s structure and safety cage “Good,” signaling the cabin held up well and limited intrusion into occupant space.

In the small overlap test, IIHS injury measures were largely strong, though not flawless: the driver’s head/neck and pelvis were rated “Good,” while the torso was rated “Acceptable.” That kind of detail is exactly what engineers target when tweaking seatbelt tensioners, load limiters, or airbag timing.

A post–April 2025 build change helped secure the top rating

IIHS’s build-date restriction isn’t random. The institute points to a production update after April 2025 that improved performance in the updated moderate overlap front crash test, conducted at 40 mph.

For shoppers, this is the practical takeaway: if you’re buying, or buying used, ask for the build date, not just the badge. In the U.S. market, where IIHS ratings can influence insurance costs and resale value, “built after April 2025” can matter as much as trim level.

Crash avoidance: strong marks for pedestrian detection and braking

Safety isn’t only about surviving a crash, it’s about avoiding one. In IIHS’s crash avoidance & mitigation testing, the Cybertruck’s standard front crash prevention system earned a “Good” rating in the pedestrian-focused evaluation.

That’s especially relevant because pickups sit higher and carry more mass than many passenger vehicles, raising concerns about what happens when things go wrong at city speeds. Strong automatic braking performance can reduce impact speeds, and sometimes prevent a collision altogether.

The weak spot: headlight glare that can put other drivers at risk

The Cybertruck’s biggest ding wasn’t its steel body or its airbags. It was its headlights. IIHS said the lighting produced excessive glare in certain scenarios, which cost the truck credit in visibility-related scoring.

In plain English: bright headlights aren’t automatically safer if they blast light into oncoming drivers’ eyes. Modern LED systems can be powerful and precise, but they’re also sensitive to calibration, beam height, cutoff, vehicle load, and manufacturing tolerances. On a tall, heavy pickup, those issues can be amplified.

The result is a more mixed safety picture than the Top Safety Pick+ headline suggests: excellent occupant protection, strong crash-avoidance tech, and a very everyday problem that shows up on wet nights, rural roads, and two-lane highways.

Other small dings: seatbelt reminders and child-seat usability

IIHS also flagged a couple of secondary items that won’t grab headlines but matter to families. The Cybertruck’s seatbelt reminders were rated “Moderate,” and its LATCH child-seat anchor ease-of-use was rated “Acceptable,” not top-tier.

None of that erases the Cybertruck’s strong crash-test performance. But it reinforces what IIHS ratings often reveal: safety isn’t one number, it’s a stack of design choices, and the small ones can shape day-to-day risk as much as the big crash-test wins.