The boxy van that idles at your curb and the heavy-duty pickup stacked with ladders share more road time than ever, yet until this year almost none of them faced the same independent crash-avoidance scrutiny as the family SUV in your driveway. On October 8, 2026 the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety published the first results from a new commercial-vehicle test program, and the pattern is blunt: several of America’s most common cargo vans and Class 3 trucks struggled to prevent front crashes, especially when the target was a motorcycle.
What changed in the lab
IIHS began the work-vehicle assessments in June 2026 at its Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville, Virginia. Researchers evaluated eleven nameplates spanning full-size cargo vans and Class 3 pickups—models whose gross vehicle weight rating sits in the 10,001–14,000 pound band that federal regulators use for heavier light trucks. Tests mirrored passenger-car protocols where possible: vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention at multiple speeds, plus pedestrian detection scenarios that included child-size and adult-size targets in daylight and darkness.
The institute chose vehicles based on registration volume and visibility, not because any single brand asked to be included. That matters if you drive in warehouse districts or suburbs where Amazon-branded Rivian vans, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter fleets, and white Ford Transits dominate the block.
Why NHTSA’s fatality data made this urgent
Crashes involving medium- or heavy-duty vehicles and light vans killed 6,215 people in the United States in 2024, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System—about 16% of all roadway deaths that year. IIHS vice president of vehicle research David Kidd told the Detroit Free Press that regulatory gaps leave many commercial rigs without the automatic emergency braking bundles now common on new passenger cars. Passenger vehicles must meet forward-collision requirements that consider both cars and pedestrians; comparable mandates for many commercial classes are still catching up.
Vehicle-to-vehicle scores: where several fleet staples landed
In the inaugural vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention track, IIHS assigned a Poor rating to the 2025–2027 Chevrolet Express 2500, 2025 Ford Transit T250, 2025–2027 GMC Savana 2500, 2025–2027 Ram ProMaster 2500, 2025–2026 Chevrolet Silverado 3500, 2025 Ford F-350, and 2025–2026 GMC Sierra 3500. Motorcycle scenarios exposed the widest spread: some systems failed to warn or slow at all, while others braked but lost points for late driver alerts.
Not every commercial nameplate faltered. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 earned Good for vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention. Cargo vans generally outperformed the heavy pickups in that lane, reflecting both sensor packaging and the taller, blunt front ends of Class 3 trucks.
Pedestrians, children, and tall hoods
Two models—the 2025–2027 Chevrolet Express 2500 and 2025–2026 GMC Savana 2500—received Poor marks for pedestrian crash avoidance because they ship without standard automatic emergency braking; forward collision warning is optional. Even trucks rated Acceptable for pedestrian detection struggled with a child-size dummy in daylight. Researchers noted that short pedestrians effectively vanish below the high beltline and mirror-mounted sensors on F-350 and Ram 3500 testers, a geometry problem human drivers face every time they turn out of a strip-mall driveway.
On the brighter side, the discontinued Chevrolet BrightDrop 400 electric van and the Rivian RCV-Delivery 500 (the platform behind many Amazon custom bodies) scored Good for pedestrian crash avoidance, though the Rivian was Marginal in vehicle-to-vehicle tests. The split shows that electrified delivery fleets can lead on vulnerable-road-user detection even when car-to-car logic still needs refinement.
If you walk, bike, or drive a sedan near these rigs
Treat the front grille of a Class 3 pickup like a blind wall: assume the operator cannot see your handlebars or a child’s helmet until you are well into the crosswalk. At night, give extra space before passing a idling Transit or ProMaster; Poor or Marginal ratings mean you cannot count on the truck’s radar to bail out a distracted driver. Motorcyclists should note that several systems that recognize cars missed the institute’s motorcycle target entirely—leave more following distance when a work truck merges onto a 45 mph arterial.
If you are buying or assigning vans for a business
Order sheets still treat automatic emergency braking as an upsell on some Express and Savana configurations, while Sprinter and BrightDrop-era vans demonstrate that Good pedestrian scores are achievable today. Before you sign a fleet lease or purchase a used high-roof van from an auction, pull the build data and open recall history the same way you would for a retail SUV—CarDiary’s VIN check page is an easy place to stash that report next to registration renewals so a missing AEB code does not get lost in email. Document optional safety packages on the bill of sale; IIHS intends to extend the program through 2027 with headlight and rear automatic braking scores, so today’s spec sheet becomes tomorrow’s resale talking point.
What IIHS and regulators do next
The October release is a baseline, not a recall. NHTSA has separate rulemakings underway for heavy-vehicle equipment, and IIHS says it will phase in Class 4–6 box trucks after it finishes Class 3 pickup coverage. Until federal requirements match passenger-car AEB timelines, insurance loss data from these first ratings may pressure manufacturers faster than rule text alone.
For now the takeaway for U.S. drivers is situational: the same vehicle that hauls your online order can lag modern crash prevention, especially toward motorcyclists and small pedestrians. Give those wide white vans and dual-rear-wheel pickups the extra margin they have not yet earned in the test lab.