The 2026 Tesla Cybertruck Is the Safest Pickup You Can Buy, But Its Cost Has Risen
What Car Shoppers Need to Know
- The Tesla Cybertruck earned an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick+ award for 2026, the only pickup truck of any kind tested to do so.
- You’ll pay more for that safety, though, as pricing on the first two trims has risen $5,000 in just two months.
- The Cybertruck now starts at $76,985 (including $1,995 destination fee) for the base dual-motor trim.
Tesla’s Cybertruck is a divisive vehicle, but to give credit where credit is due, it’s also a very safe one — so safe, in fact, that it’s the safest pickup truck on the market per Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash-test results. Unfortunately, Tesla is going to make you pay more for that safety with recently hiked prices.
Related: How Much Is the 2026 Tesla Cybertruck?
Versus the Competition
Unlike every other large pickup in the table below, the 2026 Cybertruck earned a Top Safety Pick+ rating for how it performed in testing. On a scale of good, average, marginal or poor, it earned a score of good in every test category except seat belt reminders and ease of use for the Latch child-safety seat anchor system.
| 2026 Model | Award | Small Overlap Front | Moderate Overlap Front | Side | Headlights | Front Crash Prevention: Vehicle-to-Vehicle | Front Crash Prevention: Pedestrian |
| Tesla Cybertruck | TSP+ | G | G | G | G | G (standard system) | G (standard system) |
| Toyota Tundra crew cab | TSP | G | G | G | G/A (varies by trim) | Not tested | A (standard system) |
| Chevrolet Silverado 1500 crew cab | — | M | P | A | Poor | Not tested | A (standard system) |
| Ford F-150 crew cab | — | G | P | G | G/A (varies by trim) | P (optional system) | G (standard and optional systems) |
| Ford F-150 extended cab | — | G | Not tested | G | G | P (optional system) | G (standard and optional systems) |
| GMC Sierra 1500 crew cab | — | M | Not tested | A | Not tested | Not tested | A (standard system) |
| Ram 1500 crew cab | — | G | P | G | G/A (varies by trim) | M (standard system) | G (standard system) |
| Rivian R1T crew cab | — | G | A | G | A | A (standard system) | G (standard system) |
| Toyota Tundra extended cab | — | G | Not tested | G | A | Not tested | A (standard system) |
The only truck that performed almost as well was the Toyota Tundra: Aside from an average rating in a headlights test, front crash prevention system for pedestrians and ease of use of the Latch system, it scored good on all other crash tests. The worst performers were trucks from GM: The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 received either moderate, average or poor ratings on nearly every test; they scored acceptable for front crash prevention for pedestrians.
Cybertruck Pricing Has Risen (Again)
| Trim | Starting Price (With Destination) | Range (Miles) | Percent Increase Vs. June 2026 |
| Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive | $76,985 | 325 | 6.9% (from $71,985) |
| Premium All-Wheel Drive | $86,985 | 325 | 6.1% (from $81,985) |
| Cyberbeast | $101,985 | 320 | No change |
Unfortunately, Tesla is going to make you pay more for that safety. The electric pickup now starts at $76,985 for the base Cybertruck with dual-motor AWD, $86,985 for the Premium AWD trim and $101,985 for the top-dog Cyberbeast. If you’ve been paying attention, this means that Cybertruck pricing on the Dual Motor and Premium trims has risen $5,000 in just two months, or just over 6% for each of those trims (the Cyberbest price is unchanged).
What are you getting for that price increase? It doesn’t really seem that you get anything more for the money; Tesla is just simply charging more. It’s a strange move considering Cybertruck sales haven’t been great. Per Automotive News, sales of the electric truck were down 40% in the first half of the year, though days live on the lot have dropped from 57 at the start of the year to 45.
Read More About the Tesla Cybertruck On Cars.com:
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