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The Ford F-150 full-size pickup truck is very popular. It continues to be the best-selling truck, as people are drawn to its excellent performance, towing prowess, off-road capabilities, configurability, and premium features. The Ford F-150 is also one of the safest pickup trucks — as evidenced by its Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Pick award.

Ford F-150 is one of the safest pickup trucks

Front angle view of blue 2023 Ford F-150, most popular and one of the safest pickup trucks
2023 Ford F-150 | Ford

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is a respected authority for safety evaluations. Every year, IIHS does safety and crash test evaluations — and gives Top Safety Pick awards. 

Some might think that with their large size, pickup trucks are safe vehicles by providing more protection. However, as of this writing, only four new pickup trucks earned at least a Top Safety Pick award: the 2023/2022 Ford F-150, 2022 Ram 1500, 2022 Toyota Tundra, and 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz. 

Also, both the Crew Cab and Extended Cab versions of the F-150 earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick award. For the other truck models, only the Crew Cab versions received the award. 

IIHS Top Safety Pick award for 2023 and 2022 F-150

Rear view of red 2023 Ford F-150, the most popular and one of the safest pickup trucks
2023 Ford F-150 | Ford

The 2023/2022 Ford F-150 pickup truck scored especially well for the IIHS crashworthiness evaluations. From best to worst, IIHS has scores of Good, Acceptable, Marginal, and Poor. And for all of the crashworthiness ratings, the F-150 earned a Good score. This includes a Good score for small overlap front: driver-side, small overlap front: passenger-side, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength, and head restraints & seats. 

The F-150 also fared well for the IIHS crash avoidance and mitigation evaluations. For these evaluations, Superior is the best score, followed by Advanced, and Basic. The truck earned a Superior score for both the standard and optional front crash prevention: vehicle-to-vehicle — as well as the standard front crash prevention: vehicle-to-pedestrian. For the optional front crash prevention: vehicle-to-pedestrian, the F-150 received an Advanced rating.

Safety features in the 2023 F-150

The high-level safety of the 2023 Ford F-150 can be credited to its strong protective structure, as well as its numerous safety features. This includes front airbags, seat-mounted side airbags, and safety canopy side curtain airbags. The F-150 also has AdvanceTrac With Roll Stability Control, Curve Control, four-wheel anti-lock brakes, SOS Post-Crash Alert System, and SecuriLock Passive Anti-Theft System.

Additionally, the F-150 offers safety-enhancing driving assistance technologies. This includes Rear View Camera with Dynamic Hitch Assist, Intersection Assist, Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) with Cross-Traffic Alert and Trailer Tow Coverage, Ford BlueCruise, Forward Sensing System, and Ford Co-Pilot360 Assist 2.0.

What are the trim levels for the 2023 Ford F-150?

Prospective buyers of the new 2023 Ford F-150 pickup truck have no shortage of trim options. This includes XL, XLT, Rattler, Heritage Edition, Lariat, King Ranch, Platinum, Tremor, Raptor, and Raptor R. The F-150 also offers an all-electric model with the F-150 Lightning. The starting price of the 2023 F-150 is $34,585 MSRP.

As the best-selling model, the Ford F-150 is not only the most popular pickup truck, but it’s also one of the safest. This is evidenced by it earning the coveted IIHS Top Safety Pick award. If you desire a pickup truck that provides the peace of mind for safety during your adventures and tough jobs, then you’ll likely be pleased with the F-150.