Cars

Every car commercial tells you that their car has a fivestar safety rating Does this score really mean anything What tests are being performed and who does the measuring

The Organizations

In the United States there are two organizations that score
Every car commercial tells you that their car has a fivestar safety rating Does this score really mean anything What tests are being performed and who does the measuring

The Organizations

In the United States there are two organizations that score cars on safety ratings the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety IIHS The NHTSA is run by the Department of Transportation and is sometimes called the New Car Assessment Program NCAP or the government five star rating

Frontal Collision Ratings

The NHTSA gets its data by running a car directly into a wall at 35 mph The IIHS does a different test where the impact is offset and not directly in the middle The IIHS test does a better job of mimicking reallife accidents While most cars do well in directly headon collisions most reallife collisions are offset

The NHTSA scores with five stars Five stars means that there is ten percent or less chance of injury Injury is defined as something lifethreatening or for which you will need immediate hospitalization Four stars is between eleven and twenty percent chance of injury Three stars is between twentyone and thirtyfive percent chance

The IIHS score is not in a five star format They rate a vehicle as Good Acceptable Marginal or Poor

The NHTSA and the IIHS scores should be looked at in conjunction with one another Remember both these scores only rate what would happen if you collide with another vehicle the same size as yours However many crashes involve only onevehicle so these tests are useful

SideImpact Ratings

Again the NHTSA and IIHS uses different sideimpact tests The NTSA crashes a giant beam into the side of a car and measures the shock on two malesized dummies They then make a star rating based on the chance of chest injury to the dummies Five stars means less than 5 chance of injury four stars is 610 and 3 stars is 1120 They dont gage the damage to the head in this star rating but if they think that it is excessively dangerous they will add a safety note to their report

The IIHS uses dummies that represent adolescents or smallstatured women This helps assess the safety of people other than men in the car They also use a larger beam They score their rating based on injury to the head neck chest abdomen pelvis and femur This is arguably a more comprehensive test than the NHTSA test

Rollover Ratings

The NHTSA is the only company that does Rollover ratings Rollovers are often the most fatal type of accident The NHTSA measures the chance of a car rolling with no external catalyst and the chance of it happening for a reason hitting a shallow ditch hitting the curb going onto the shoulder 95 of rollovers are tripped and have some external element

Recent NHTSA testing has proven what we know about SUVs being much more likely to rollover than sedans or other cars

LowImpact Bumper Test

The IIHS performs a lowimpact bumper test to see how much repairs would cost you if you gently hit something by accident They rate the cars accordingly Although this is not necessarily a safety rating it will tell you what you can expect for possible repairs for your car and is something to keep in mind while purchasing a car

When you shop

Considering the safety ratings of cars is important But it is also important to know how these ratings are measured so that you can make the most informed decision about your purchase Maybe you want your car to be cool or to be functional but most of all you want it to be safe