IIHS posts 2025 Toyota 4Runner crash test

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety posted a new YouTube video on May 17 showing a 2025 Toyota 4Runner in a driver-side small overlap front crash test. The video description says the midsize SUV was tested at 40 mph, and IIHS lists the overall driver-side evaluation as good for a 2025 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4-door 4WD. The rating page says the result applies to 2025-26 models and notes that the 4Runner was redesigned for the 2025 model year. The posting adds another public test result for Toyota’s latest-generation SUV as IIHS continues updating ratings on newly redesigned vehicles. ### What exactly does the new video show? The May 17 upload shows a driver-side small overlap front test, one of IIHS’s crashworthiness evaluations for frontal impacts. IIHS says the test represents a crash in which the front corner of a vehicle hits another vehicle or a fixed object such as a tree or utility pole. The institute says a vehicle travels at 40 mph into a rigid barrier with 25% of the front overlapping, using a belted Hybrid III dummy representing an average-size male in the driver seat. (youtube.com) The IIHS rating page for the 4Runner says the tested vehicle was a 2025 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4-door 4WD. The same page says the small overlap front evaluation has driver-side and passenger-side components, but the 4Runner currently has an incomplete rating because it has been tested only on one side. ### How did the 4Runner perform in the driver-side test? (youtube.com) IIHS rated the 2025 Toyota 4Runner good overall in the driver-side small overlap test. The institute also assigned good marks for structure and safety cage, head and neck, chest, hip and thigh, lower leg and foot, and driver restraints and dummy kinematics. IIHS said the dummy’s position after the crash indicated that the driver’s survival space “was maintained very well.” The institute also said the frontal and side curtain airbags worked together to keep the head from coming close to stiff structures or outside objects, and that intrusion into the driver’s space was maintained well. (iihs.org) ### How does that fit with the rest of the 4Runner’s safety record? (iihs.org) The 2025 4Runner’s broader IIHS scorecard is mixed. The vehicle’s rating page shows a good score in the updated side test, a marginal score in the updated moderate overlap front test, acceptable or poor headlight ratings depending on trim, and good scores in vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention 2.0, pedestrian front crash prevention, seat belt reminders and LATCH ease of use. (iihs.org) On October 28, 2025, IIHS said the 4Runner was among vehicles that received new ratings but did not qualify for a 2025 award. IIHS said subpar performance in the moderate overlap test removed the 4Runner from consideration, and added that some trims also missed the headlight requirement. The institute said the SUV earned a marginal rating in the moderate overlap test because the rear lap belt moved from the dummy’s pelvis to the abdomen, increasing injury risk. (iihs.org) ### Why is the rating still called incomplete? IIHS says the small overlap front evaluation consists of separate driver-side and passenger-side tests. The institute’s test page says each vehicle is tested twice — once with the overlap on the driver side and once on the passenger side — and ratings can only be compared among vehicles of similar weight because crash severity depends on vehicle weight. (iihs.org) The 4Runner page says only the driver-side test has been completed so far, which is why the model’s small overlap front result remains incomplete despite the good score on the newly posted video. IIHS has not yet posted a passenger-side small overlap result on the 2025 4Runner rating page. ### What protocol is IIHS using for this test? IIHS lists a current small overlap frontal crashworthiness protocol dated May 2025. (iihs.org) The protocol page identifies it as Version VIII and says it applies to driver-side and passenger-side small overlap crash tests, with passenger-side documentation included in an appendix. (iihs.org) The next public step is likely another rating-page update if IIHS publishes a passenger-side small overlap result for the 2025-26 Toyota 4Runner. For now, the latest official materials are the May 17 YouTube video and the IIHS vehicle page showing the driver-side small overlap result alongside the 4Runner’s other crash-test and crash-avoidance scores. (youtube.com) (iihs.org)