What IIHS Reports on Commercial Vehicles and Crash Avoidance Technology

Updated

IIHS publishes separate findings on commercial vehicles and on crash avoidance technology, and the two overlap: the institute tests front crash prevention on work vehicles and reports that cargo vans and heavy-duty pickups lag behind passenger vehicles. On iihs.org you can find these results under the Commercial vehicles section and the Advanced driver assistance research area, alongside news items on repair costs and on driverless car crash rates.

What IIHS says about commercial vehicles

The site's Commercial vehicles section sits alongside passenger vehicle ratings and award winners on the homepage. The clearest published finding is that work vehicles falter in crash avoidance tests: cargo vans and heavy-duty pickups trail passenger vehicles in front crash prevention. That comparison is the main takeaway for anyone choosing or specifying a work vehicle — the safety technology that has become common on passenger cars is not performing at the same level on these commercial classes.

The institute's broader commercial vehicle work covers large trucks, including trucking regulations, driver fatigue, braking systems and underride crashes. Those topics appear in the Key issues in road safety list on the homepage.

What IIHS reports on crash avoidance technology

Advanced driver assistance is one of the institute's named research areas. The published scope includes front crash prevention, partial automation, and the limitations of crash prevention technologies. The sensors behind automatic emergency braking and blind spot detection are central to this work — and to the repair cost discussion below.

Two related items on the site add context:

  • Repair costs. An Insight piece by Matt Moore argues that sensors for automatic emergency braking, blind spot detection and other crash avoidance systems are often blamed for high repair costs, but many other causes exist. The useful point for a buyer or fleet manager is that sensor cost is only one factor, so repair estimates should not be reduced to "the sensors did it."
  • Driverless cars. A news item reports that Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than human drivers. Treat this as a single reported comparison rather than a general claim about automation.

How to use the site for your own question

If you want to… Go to What you get
Check a specific passenger vehicle "Find vehicle ratings by make and model" search Ratings by year, make and model
See award-level vehicles Award winners Vehicles that met the institute's award criteria
Compare work vehicles Commercial vehicles Findings on vans and heavy-duty pickups
Understand a technology's limits Advanced driver assistance Research on front crash prevention and partial automation
Follow current findings News & featured work Recent studies and explainers

The make-and-model search accepts a year as well as a vehicle, and suggestions appear as you type.

What to keep in mind

The commercial vehicle finding is a relative one: work vehicles underperform passenger vehicles in front crash prevention tests, which does not mean they lack the systems. For a purchase or fleet decision, check the specific model's results rather than assuming a class-wide outcome, and read the repair cost piece before treating sensor damage as the dominant ownership cost. For teen and family vehicle selection, the site's separate guides — including the young driver safety guide for parents and the shopping guide for new and used buyers — are the more direct route.