Tundra Four-Star Safety Rating Not a Good Thing

Most readers might see a vehicle score a four-star safety rating and think it’s a good thing — it is the second-highest rating you can get. That’s not the case this morning, as word of the Toyota Tundra full-size pickup’s NHTSA crash tests come rolling in. Both the regular and crew cab Tundra earned four-star crash-test scores for frontal impacts.

Every other full-size pickup, including the new Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram, earned five-stars in the same tests. The Nissan Titan received five stars for driver safety but four for passenger safety.

This is not good news for Toyota, especially with so much talk about NHTSA handing out five-star grades too liberally. The organization is actually in the process of overhauling its procedures to make tests more stringent. The question is, will the seemingly still-satisfactory safety scores deter truck buyers from considering the Tundra?

Source: NHTSA via Autoblog

Related:
Government to Push For Tougher Safety Ratings
Cars.comparison: Full-Size Trucks

Comments

[spanky]

So is this an "adjusting" 4-star award for them being make amends for being too liberal in the past? At what point does a vehicle trip over from 4 to 5 stars. I think we have a lot to be enlightened about when it comes to gov't and epa testing methods. If someone is contemplating what injury would be sustained in a 4 star vs 5 star safety rating crash then they are far more savvy shopper than I. I guess the simple answer to will it deter buyers...eh...couldn't help.

[Dave T.]

spanky,
no these are the same tests. New tests/scores won't start for some time. Maybe even into 2008. That's why its a significantly "bad" score compared to the competition getting better scores in the same tests.

[starlightmica]

Doesn't sound so good, but wasn't there that recent study saying that there's no correlation between truck crash scores and injury?

[Dave T.]

There wasn't a correlation like there was for cars no. But they couldn't say why that was the case or that it didn't "matter." Me, I'm picking safest if all things are equal.

[Dan]

People looking to buy a Toyota truck often aren't looking to buy something else, they're usually Toyota fans who buy a truck, not truck fans who buy a Toyota. (In my experience)
Besides, Toyota has a good reputation, and in the auto market, it takes years to wreck (or repair) a reputation, and one year of truck with 1 less safety star isn't going to do it. If this becomes a habit, well, then that's different.

[Juan Carlos]

yet another reason why the silverado was truck of the year. i guess the tundra is the truck that is changing it all.

[Zerf]

My honest thoughts are people who are buying Toyotas buy them because they are Toyotas. Being one star off does not matter to them. It would have to be something really bad like a 2 star rating before I think they would second guess their choice. The only one this may help would be the Titan but it is only one star better on one side, once again not something they are going to care about. If Consumer Reports does not make a big deal of this neither will the average Toyota customer.

[Shawn]

Yall need to leave Toyota alone why I say that because Toyota's are better then Ford or any American brand in this country people need to talk more about them ugly Ford's then Toyota crash tests rating, and they need to talk about how many times Ford's has been recalled

[Troy]

Juan, The Silverado was truck of the year because it didn't compete with the Tundra IMO.

On another note, the 4 star rating... Is there a listing somewhere that shows everyone's crash "star" rating. I think alot of people would be suprised at their brand's ratings.... I'm not talking about trucks only either... All makes/models...

[Dane Carlson]

One unanswered question for me, is what vehicles did they really test? The NHTSA site reports that both the regular cab model and the extended cab model (probably the double cab) had a vehicle curb weight of 5,203 lbs. This is weird because both models shouldn’t weigh the same and

* the 4×2 base model of the regular cab weighs only 4,610 lbs while the 4×4 regular cab long bed with the 5.7L V8 weighs 5,175 lbs.
* The base 4×2 double cab weighs 4,930 lbs and the 4×4 double cab long bed with the 5.7L V8 weighs 5,645 lbs.

http://tundrablog.com/trucks/news/tundra-only-received-four-stars-from-nhtsa-24/

[Mike]

Most of you who have the habit of absorbing marketing deception and mirrored misconceptions fueled by a twisted appetite to feed your self promoted ego and probably with no knowledge of vehicle design convincing yourselves and hyping others to think the same as yourself in which Toyota is better should wake up and realize GM makes the best trucks. Their cars up to par and look great, good luck trying to convince others otherwise, you're in denial.

[Spanky]

A little bombastic there ay Mike? Inflated egos aside I don't think anyone is saying Toyota makes the best trucks yet. If anything they've been playing catchup to Ford & GM for years in that department. As far as absorbing marketing deception, all the "Toyotas are just better" crowd have formed their opinions from owning one. As a former driver of an '89 Camry with 325,000 miles on it (probably still running for somebody), I guess I've added to that Marketing Deception and for that I apologize. I'm personally rooting particularly for Ford to raise the bar and see some 300,000+ mile capable sedans (with the 36mpg I currently get with my Corolla).

[David H]

To Mike GM does not make the best trucks

[V to the Lopez]

To David, I would disagree. GM simply has the best interiors of the business, have better resale and reliability, and they have a better warranty and gas mileage. THANKS~

[David H]

To V to the Lopez no GM does not have a better interiors in or of the business, and GM does not have a better resale or reliability and they damn sure don't have better gas mileages then the all-new Toyota Tundra.

[V to the Lopez]

David,

Sorry to burst your toyota bubble, but I speak with facts:

According to GMC, they have the best resale and reliability value. PERIOD.

Toyota tundra MPG in City is 14-17 and Highway is 18-20.

GMC Sierra MPG in City is 15-17 and Highway is 19-22.

^These figures come from Cars.com under Research, which you obviously need to do. There were no specific engines noted on the website, im assuming this is for all engines.

You may argue with the interior, but im sure any automotive journalist would agree with me that the new GMT900 Trucks have one of the best interiors on the market.

Glad you didn't argue the warranty. As you can see, GM trucks are the better bet. Thats why Silverado is MotorTrend's Truck of the Year!

[Winning Lopez]

give it up! I WIN! :-)

[Troy]

Lopez, Let's face it... GM, Toyota, Ford, Dodge and even Honda all make great trucks. Each brand has it's followers. I say this. Buy the truck that fits your budget, reliability, resale value, work requirements, and styling preference.

In reality, different people will choose a different truck. The same people will choose different brands of tires, shoes, clothes, gasoline station, etc.

[Dave T.]

David H
The Silverado has the best mileage in the class. The Tundra does not. The Tundra is faster though. I'd say the interiors on teh new Silverado and Tundra are pretty close with a slight edge to Toyota but I think most people wouldn't really notice.

[V to the Lopez]

To state the facts, that you are unaware of, and to inform others that read our fights as well. Sorry David! Now its over.

[Troy]

I thought this was a blog entry concerning the Tundra's crash rating. In this link below from Motortrend, you can see several different truck's ratings.

http://www.motortrend.com/new_cars/safety/02/trucks/

[snazzum]

In an accident, I don't think any full-size truck drivers will have any problems because these trucks all have such a high mass. And the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which uses more extreme crash tests in their evaluations, rated the new Tundra good, the group's highest score, in frontal crash tests. Both a two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive Double Cab Tundra were tested.