A Back-Seat Fix Still Leaves the Tacoma Rated Marginal

The 2026 Toyota Tacoma rated Marginal in the IIHS’s updated moderate overlap front crash test, the same overall score as the 2024 and 2025 trucks, even though Toyota changed the rear seat for 2026.

The truck’s structure and every driver measure rated Good, and so did the injury measures for the dummy in the back seat, but the rear passenger’s restraints and dummy kinematics rated Poor. That one result keeps the Tacoma off the award list, because a Good moderate overlap rating is required for either 2026 award, and the truck’s other scores would have met the stricter Top Safety Pick+ criteria. It earned Good ratings in the small overlap front and updated side tests, Acceptable headlights on every trim, and Good front crash prevention ratings for both vehicles and pedestrians.

The IIHS rating page notes that "beginning with 2026 models, changes were made to the rear seat pan and rear seat belt load limiters," and the institute tested a 2026 Tacoma SR Double Cab 4×4 to rate them. The changes didn’t produce a better overall score. The 2024-2025 Tacoma was also rated Marginal, with Marginal rear passenger restraints and kinematics and an Acceptable chest measure, so the 2026 truck improved on chest protection but scored worse on how the belt held the rear passenger in place.

autoevolution reported in July that the rear dummy’s head came very close to the front seatback, and that on rebound the lap belt rode up onto the abdomen, a behavior called submarining that the IIHS warns can cause serious internal injuries. The rear dummy, added to the test in 2022, represents a 12-year-old child or a small woman. The same report said the Tacoma’s low beams light straight roads well but struggle in curves, especially to the left, and that the IIHS downgraded its top tether usability because the anchors are hard to find, leaving LATCH ease of use at Acceptable.

The bar for awards rose this year. When the IIHS announced its 2026 winners in March, it said a Good moderate overlap rating is now required for either award, up from Acceptable for a Top Safety Pick in 2025, and that "no minicars, minivans or small pickups earn awards this year." The Tacoma’s bigger sibling, the Tundra crew cab, did earn a Top Safety Pick.

The Toyota Report Take

Toyota clearly knew the back seat was the problem, since it changed the seat pan and load limiters for 2026, and it still ended up with a worse score on restraint and kinematics. That suggests the fix was aimed at the injury numbers rather than the belt geometry that lets a smaller passenger slide under the lap belt. For a truck that sells more than 270,000 a year and often carries kids in its back seat, the Tacoma should not be one rear-belt result away from a Top Safety Pick+, and Toyota has the Tundra’s award to show it can be done.