For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Toyota Tundra have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Ford F-150 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Tundra are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The F-150 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Tundra has standard Active Headrests, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Active Headrests system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The F-150 doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
Both the Tundra and the F-150 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available four-wheel drive, blind spot warning systems, around view monitors and rear cross-path warning.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Toyota Tundra is safer than the Ford F-150:
|
Tundra |
F-150 |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
172 |
337 |
Neck Injury Risk |
29.8% |
30% |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Toyota Tundra is safer than the Ford F-150:
|
Tundra |
F-150 |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.6 inches |
.8 inches |
Abdominal Force |
102 lbs. |
152 lbs. |
Hip Force |
129 lbs. |
142 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
10 inches |
13 inches |
Spine Acceleration |
33 G’s |
39 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Toyota Tundra Crew Cab Pickup is safer than the F-150 SuperCrew:
|
Tundra |
F-150 |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Structure |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
39 |
40 |
Neck Tension |
45 lbs. |
156 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Torso Deflection Rate |
5 MPH |
6 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
51 |
249 |
Head Peak Forces |
no contact |
69 G’s |
Neck Tension |
45 lbs. |
89 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Shoulder Deflection |
.43 in |
.55 in |
Shoulder Force |
178 lbs. |
223 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
.24 in |
.98 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
2 MPH |
5 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Pelvis Force |
312 lbs. |
513 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
The Toyota Tundra achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The F-150 is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.