America’s most popular vehicle based on sales, the Ford (NYSE: F) F-150, has earned the IIHS’s  “Top Safety Pick”. No other full sized-pick up matched that award.

The F-Series sold 186,000 vehicles so far this year. No other car or light truck came close. The F-150 has held that distinction for most of the last several decades

Ford took a gamble with its new F-150 when it added aluminum to the truck’s composition in place of heavy steel. The move took 700 pounds off the previous vehicle. This year, the change had made no difference based on sales performance.

In sum, Ford’s management commented:

 The 2016 Ford F-150 – the toughest, smartest, most capable and safest F-150 ever – is the only large pickup to earn an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick for SuperCrew and SuperCab configurations.

Class-leading crash test performance of the new Ford F-150 is enabled by the use of high-strength steel in the frame; high-strength, military-grade, aluminum alloy in the body; and smart engineering, which also help to save up to 700 pounds of weight to enable best-in-class ratings for towing, payload and EPA-estimated gasoline fuel economy.

“From the moment our team set out to design and build the new F-150, we knew it had to be best-in-class,” said Raj Nair, Ford executive vice president, Global Product Development, and chief technical officer. “This Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick is another example of Ford’s commitment to building the toughest, smartest, most capable and safest F-150 ever.”

Based on safety and sales, the decision turned out to be a wise one, after criticism last year because of a slow sales start, due to production, and attacks from Ford’s competition

Ford, looking back, took at risk a won.

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