The Auto Writer

If you're considering purchasing a small pick up truck and safety is important to you, then the pictured Nissan Frontier wont do unless you equip the vehicle with optional side impact airbags.

In your head you knew that you should have purchased the Ranger, but in your heart you went with the F-150, thinking that gas prices couldn’t go much higher. But today you’re regretting your purchase as you realize that you bought too much of a truck in the big Ford where the little Ranger would have been sufficient for your needs.

Like so many others are doing you’re seriously considering getting rid of your large truck and are taking a look at the Ranger as well as the Toyota Tacoma, Dodge Dakota, Nissan Frontier, and the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon. Smaller cabins and smaller beds for certain, but 26 mpg on the highway with the base Ranger is a nice improvement over the 18 mpg you’re getting with your V8 Ford.

Before you decide between the various offerings available to you, consider this: the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has tested each of these trucks for safety and found that all, except for the Toyota Tacoma, are wanting when it comes to providing protection for occupants in side crashes.

“More people may be looking at small pickups because of rising gas prices,” says Institute president Adrian Lund. “Unfortunately, they won’t find many that afford state-of-the-art crash protection. Most earn dismal ratings for protecting people in side crashes, and all but the Tacoma and Frontier lack electronic stability control, which is a key feature in preventing crashes. Until they improve, most small pickups aren’t good choices for people looking for safe transportation.”

Side impacts kill over 9,000 people on US roadways annually, the second deadliest of all automotive accidents. Only the Toyota Tacoma did a “good” job of protecting occupants when the side impact airbags were deployed, the truck’s structure holding up reasonably well too.

In the IIHS test, the Tacoma was equipped with optional side impact bags, but its competitors were not. Starting next month when the 2009 Tacomas roll off the assembly line, each model will come with side impact bags standard, thus the inclusion for the test. The IIHS gives automakers the option of having their vehicles retested by providing (at their cost) vehicles equipped with side airbags, but each manufacturer declined.

As for the Ford Ranger, this model doesn’t offer optional side impact protection. Auto manufacturers have agreed to make side impact protection standard by 2010 ahead of a federal mandate requiring the same beginning with 2015 vehicles, a big reason why Ford plans on replacing the Ranger in time for the 2011 model year.