Pickup truck shoppers have lots of options to choose from these days. Toyota has been making solid trucks for year, and Honda’s trucks have been winning awards. The 2021 Honda Ridgeline is safer than the 2021 Toyota Tacoma according to NHTSA safety ratings, proving that Honda is starting to get things right with their pickup. 

Safety features between the 2021 Honda Ridgeline and 2021 Toyota Tacoma are basically the same

Both Honda and Toyota know that incorporating standard safety features into their pickup trucks makes them safer. Both the 2021 Honda Ridgeline and 2021 Toyota Tacoma come with forward collision warning. This alerts the driver when it senses an imminent collision. They both also come with city and highway emergency braking systems, as well as pedestrian detection.

Lane departure warning in both the Honda Ridgeline and Toyota Tacoma are standard. Lane keeping assist is standard only in the Honda Ridgeline. 

Although both the Ridgeline and Tacoma come with rear view cameras, blind spot warning and rear cross traffic warning are optional in both. 

Both the Honda Ridgeline and 2021 Toyota Tacoma come with anti lock brakes, traction and stability control. They both also have daytime running lights. 

Airbags are equal in the Ridgeline and the Tacoma

Front and rear side airbags are standard in both the Honda Ridgeline and the Toyota Tacoma. So is head protection with rollover. 

IIHS crash test ratings are a draw

The IIHS does front moderate overlap testing, which measures how well a pickup truck does when its front left hits a barrier at 40 MPH. There was no difference in how the Honda Ridgeline and the Toyota Tacoma performed in this test. Both the Ridgeline and Tacoma got good marks in this. 

Likewise, the Ridgeline and the Tacoma both got good marks for the front small overlap driver and acceptable for the front small overlap passenger. 

Side crash test ratings, rear crash and roof crash were good for both the Honda Ridgeline and the Toyota Tacoma. 

The NHTSA crash test ratings favor the 2021 Honda Ridgeline

The NHTSA overall crash score, overall frontal-crash, overall frontal-crash driver and overall frontal-crash passenger were all five stars for the Honda Ridgeline. On the other hand, the Toyota Tacoma scored just four stars in all of these categories. 

All of the side crash tests for the Honda Ridgeline are five stars: overall side, overall side-crash, side-crash driver, side-crash, rear passenger and side pole-crash. Although the Toyota Tacoma received a five star overall side-crash and side-crash rear passenger rating, it only has a four star side-crash driver and side-pole crash test rating. The advantage here goes to the Ridgeline. 

Rollover ratings for both the 2WD and 4WD 2021 Honda Ridgeline and the 2021 Toyota Tacoma are four stars, so this is a draw between the Honda and Toyota. 

So which is the safer pickup truck, the 2021 Honda Ridgeline or the 2021 Toyota Tacoma?

Consumer Reports tested both vehicles and found that the routine handling, emergency handling, and braking was better in the 2021 Honda Ridgeline. Combined with the IIHS and NHTSA test ratings, and it’s clear to see that the 2021 Honda Ridgeline is the safer pickup truck.