Built Ford Tough, indeed.

No one wants to be in a crash. But it’s comforting to know that, if the unthinkable were to happen, the rig you’re in performed well under the rigors of testing at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The 2019 Ford F-150 SuperCrew falls squarely into that category.

The IIHS has released test results showing that, among all light-duty crew cab pickups measured in small overlap front crash testing for both driver and passenger, the 2019 Ford F-150 is the only truck to earn a Good rating in all categories. If that doesn’t sound impressive, consider that Good is the top-tier rating – there is no higher achievement.

As a quick refresher, the small overlap test is a fairly new assessment cooked up by the IIHS boffins in 2012, meant to simulate a vehicle smacking into a tree or lamp post head on at a considerable rate of speed. The impact is not dead centre, rather offset to the side, with initial impact hammering the headlight area. Check out a video of the test in action.

It’s a brutal test, one which flummoxed many manufacturers when first introduced. Results improved after vehicle engineers scratched their heads and went back to the drawing board. This is a good thing, as any amount of additional crash safety definitely benefits the truck-buying public.

According to the IIHS, only three crew cabs – Ford F-150, Ram 1500, and Nissan Titan – earned top honors in the passenger-side small overlap test for the 2019 model year. “We commend Ford, Nissan and Ram for providing state-of-the-art crash protection for both drivers and front passengers of their large pickup models,” says David Zuby, IIHS chief research officer. “As a group, however, the pickup class still has a lot of work to do.”

The work to which Zuby refers is not only in making continued strides to better protect cabin occupants but also in the area of headlight performance. On the ranking range of Good-Acceptable-Marginal-Poor, not a single half-ton pickup on the market today scored any better than Marginal.

As for today’s announcements, the PR machine at Ford was working overtime poking fun at their crosstown rivals in the never-ending battle between the Blue Oval and GM.

Officials at the IIHS do not tend to mince words when talking about their test results. Point blank, they said the Ford F-150 was the best performer in the passenger-side test. The structure held up well with maximum intrusion of 5 inches at the rightmost section of the toepan. The seat belts and airbags worked well together to control the movement of the passenger and driver dummies, and neither dummy recorded any potential injuries.

The Tundra they said, in contrast, was seriously compromised by intruding structure. Maximum intrusion, also at the rightmost part of the toepan, measured 15 inches. There was also intrusion of more than a foot at the lower door hinge pillar. The passenger dummy’s head hit the grab handle attached to the A-pillar as the A-pillar intruded into the passenger’s space.

This reinforces the importance of doing one’s homework before buying a new rig, not only in terms of price but all aspects of the vehicle. Be safe out there, folks.