Improved headlights boost 2021 Ford F-150 to Top Safety Pick
October 12, 2021
The 2021 Ford F-150 crew cab and extended cab earn Top Safety Pick awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, following improvements to the available headlight offerings.
The two versions of the F-150, the top-selling vehicle nameplate in the U.S., join the Ram 1500 as the only large pickups to earn a 2021 award from IIHS.
Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company
To qualify for either of the Institute’s two awards, vehicles must earn good ratings in all six IIHS crashworthiness evaluations, including the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests. They must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations.
Headlight ratings are what separate the higher-tier Top Safety Pick+ award from the lower-tier Top Safety Pick. For the lower-tier award, at least one good or acceptable headlight system must be available. For the “plus,” good or acceptable headlights must be standard across all trims.
The 2020 models of the two large pickups fell short of an award because all the available headlight systems on those vehicles earned poor ratings. The 2021 editions of both vehicles are available with good or acceptable headlights at some trim levels, though a poor rating for the base halogens included with certain trims prevents them from earning the “plus.”
Both the standard and optional front crash prevention systems available on both trucks earn superior ratings in the vehicle-to-vehicle evaluation. In the vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluation — especially important for large pickups due to their size and weight — the standard, camera-only Ford Co-Pilot360 2.0 system earns a superior rating, and the optional, camera-and-radar Ford Co-Pilot 360 Assist 2.0 earns an advanced rating.
For both vehicles, the award applies to vehicles built after June 2021 that are equipped with the good-rated adaptive LED projector headlights or acceptable-rated LED reflector headlights.