What You Need to Know About Federal Crash Test Ratings in 2022
When you’re perusing the options for your next car, what do you look for? You probably already have a few things in mind, like make and model, trim level, or extra features like Bluetooth capability and cruise control. Even though it might not be as exciting as the rest, one thing that’ll definitely come up at some point will be the vehicles’ NHTSA safety ratings. They might not make the car look even better when it’s parked in your driveway for the first time, but they’ll definitely make a difference if you ever get involved in a traffic accident. The number of car crashes in the United States is up compared to previous years, so having a highly rated vehicle is more important than ever. If you don’t figure out now which car will keep you safest in a head-on collision, you might have to figure out later when to hire a car accident lawyer from a firm like Morgan & Morgan.
Granted, NHTSA ratings don’t tell you everything about the vehicle’s safety; the main purpose is to provide standardized ratings that apply equally to any size or type of vehicle. There are private organizations (such as the IIHS) which test for aspects of safety that the NHTSA leaves out, but since these organizations aren’t associated with the federal government, their ratings aren’t required before a vehicle can be sold.
The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has been in operation since 1970, and it’s the governmental agency that’s in charge of rating vehicle safety based on performance. Three stars (out of four or five, depending on the test) means that the vehicle is considered safe. Less than three stars doesn’t necessarily disqualify a car from being sold, but it will seriously hurt sales of the vehicle once consumers realize that there are much better options.
How to understand and interpret NHTSA car safety ratings
Every new type of car that’s sold in the United States has to be tested in compliance with the agency’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). The testing is broken down into two parts: the rollover tests, and the crash tests. In order to ensure consistent results, each vehicle is tested under essentially the same conditions.
- Rollover testing
Using “dynamic vehicle testing”, each car is put through its paces for the specific purpose of making it flip over. The question is, how much can it take before the rollover happens? In general, this will depend on two different factors. First, the track width: the wider it is, the more stable the vehicle will be. Second, the center of gravity: the lower it is, the less likely the vehicle will be to roll over.
- Crash testing
The NHTSA uses specific parameters for their crash tests. Not only do the vehicles travel at set speeds (35 mph) during front crash tests, but they’re also rammed into objects that are meant to simulate moving vehicles of a similar size. Some crashes involve vehicles colliding with stationary objects, but the really severe crashes – where car safety really counts – take place between two moving vehicles. The side-impact crash test also uses similarly sized objects to ram into the vehicles, but they’re moving more slowly at 17 mph.
Both the front crash tests and side-impact crash tests confirm how a vehicle would hold up against another moving vehicle of the same size, but there’s some information missing from the ratings. How would the vehicle perform in a collision with a car of a different size? A truck with a decent crash test rating would probably do pretty well if it collided with a Mini Cooper, but a gas-efficient commuter car with the same rating might be completely demolished by an SUV.
Despite the shortcomings of these tests, however, it’s still a fairly accurate way to tell how any particular vehicle would do in a crash; you just have to realize that, even if two vehicles have the same crash test rating, they could still perform very differently in a traffic accident because of their relative sizes.
- A vehicle can get up to 4 stars for a rollover test
The rollover test only checks how likely the vehicle is to flip under certain conditions, not for passenger safety during a rollover.
- A vehicle can get up to 5 stars for each crash test
If you want to know about passenger safety during a collision, these are the ratings to pay attention to. To get a decent safety rating, a vehicle should get three stars minimum for each crash test.
Why NHTSA car safety ratings are so important
These ratings do a lot more than give auto makers another talking point for their new releases; they also hold auto makers accountable, both to the federal government and to consumers.
In fact, NHTSA ratings have a lot of influence over the sales of any new car. Even if it’s made with all the latest and greatest gadgets, a low safety rating can tank the sales and cut deeply into profit margins. On the other side of the coin, a good safety rating promotes strong sales for newly released vehicles.
The NHTSA does more than just provide car safety ratings, though; it’s instrumental in overseeing and enforcing standards of quality for car manufacturers. Without the NHTSA, auto makers wouldn’t have to recall faulty products, even if they were clearly resulting in injury or death. The NHTSA keeps track of not only cars, but also of seat belts, ABS, air bags, booster seats, child car seats, and more. In addition to enforcing product recalls and doing product testing, they also run campaigns to educate consumers about road safety.
The takeaway
NHTSA car safety ratings are more than just some extra stickers on a vehicle; they’re a standardized way for you to tell just how safe your potential new car could keep you in the event of a collision. Whether you put safety first or not in a vehicle, it wouldn’t hurt to at least keep NHTSA ratings in mind the next time you’re car-shopping.