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2018 Ford F-150 nabs IIHS Top Safety Pick, but headlights hold it back

It's the only full-size pickup with the Top Safety Pick rating

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The updated 2018 Ford F-150 has retained its IIHS Top Safety Pick rating. The truck once again earned the organization's highest "Good" ratings in all of the IIHS tests for both the crew cab and extended cab body styles. It was also able to keep the Top Safety Pick rating because of the newly available automatic emergency braking system option. The organization found the system was able to bring the car to a complete stop before crashing when stopping from both 10 mph and 25 mph. With the emergency collision warning system, the F-150 earned top marks for automatic forward collision avoidance technology.

Keen observers will notice that the Top Safety Pick rating isn't quite the highest safety honor the IIHS has to offer. The highest is the Top Safety Pick+. This rating requires that a vehicle have headlights that earn an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. None of the F-150's headlights do this. In fact, every single headlight type offered on the F-150 earned the lowest rating of "Poor."

Despite missing out on the highest possible IIHS safety rating, the F-150 is still the highest-rated full-size pickup available. The Ram 1500, Chevy Silverado 1500, GMC Sierra 1500, Toyota Tundra and Nissan Titan all performed slightly worse in at least one crash test, and had worse forward collision prevention technology. Though the Ram 1500, GMC Sierra and Nissan Titan had better headlights. For the safest pickup on the road, regardless of size, buyers should check out the Honda Ridgeline. The Ridgeline did earn the Top Safety Pick+ thanks to "Good" ratings in all crash tests, the top forward collision avoidance score and headlights on higher trim versions that were also rated "Good."

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