Insurance Institute for Highway Safety test revealed safety flaws in the Tesla Cybertruck
Published on Sep 22, 2025 at 11:37 AM (UTC-4)
by Keelin McNamara
Last updated on Sep 23, 2025 at 4:17 AM (UTC-4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
The Tesla Cybertruck has just had its safety put firmly to the test.
Tesla’s marquee EV truck is very much one of the most divisive vehicles ever built.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently conducted a safety test.
And the test from the IIHS has revealed some of the biggest safety flaws of the Tesla Cybertruck.
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IIHS tests Tesla Cybertruck for safety
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) performs a very important function.
It is a non-profit organization that serves to test the safety of cars to their very limit.
The organization, which was founded in 1959, provides safety reviews of all road-going vehicles.
It’s most well-known for providing tests of vehicles in various simulated scenarios, including head-on collisions.
For 2025, several test updates were recently released by the IIHS.
The organisation has recently been testing several different EVs and their safety on the road.
Because all of the EVs being tested are different, it’s difficult to draw immediate comparisons.
But even the results for the Tesla Cybertruck in isolation make for very interesting reading.
The first test that was conducted by the group was the moderate overlap test.
This test evaluates crashworthiness in more ‘glancing’ head-on collisions.
It turns out that the Tesla Cybertruck actually performs very well in this regard.
The Tesla truck managed to earn a ‘good’ rating from the IIHS in this major test.
Head-on toughness not enough for the IIHS
So why didn’t the truck earn the top rating if it performed so well?
Well, it turns out that the IIHS didn’t take too kindly to the Cybertruck’s headlights.
Not a single vehicle that was tested received a good grade for its headlights.
But the Tesla Cybertruck had the distinct honor of receiving the lowest possible headlight grade – an award it shared with the brand-new BMW i4.
IIHS justified the rating by citing an excessive amount of glare produced by the headlights.
This resulted in downgrading the truck’s standard headlamps from ‘marginal’ to ‘poor.’
Hopefully, Tesla is able to address these issues with the Cybertruck in order to put it back in the good graces of the IIHS.
