Both the Canyon and Tacoma have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Canyon has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Tacoma’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Canyon are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Tacoma doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Full-time four-wheel drive is optional on the Canyon. Full-time four-wheel drive gives added traction for safety in all conditions, not just off-road, like the only system available on the Tacoma.
Both the Canyon and the Tacoma have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available collision warning systems, lane departure warning systems and rear parking sensors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the GMC Canyon is safer than the Toyota Tacoma:
|
Canyon |
Tacoma |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
210 |
232 |
Neck Injury Risk |
28.7% |
39.1% |
Neck Stress |
287 lbs. |
462 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
301/266 lbs. |
230/374 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.6 inches |
.6 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
44.9% |
55.2% |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
39/32 lbs. |
590/544 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the GMC Canyon is safer than the Toyota Tacoma:
|
Canyon |
Tacoma |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
22 |
72 |
Chest Movement |
1 inches |
1.2 inches |
Hip Force |
180 lbs. |
222 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
46 |
115 |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
13 inches |
15 inches |
HIC |
227 |
339 |
Spine Acceleration |
47 G’s |
60 G’s |
Hip Force |
716 lbs. |
1038 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The GMC Canyon has a better fatality history. The Canyon was involved in fatal accidents at a rate 8.9% lower per vehicle registered than the Tacoma, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.