Car safety ratings are determined by crash tests to determine how well occupants would survive. Features like airbags, seat belts, and crumple zones increase safety ratings. The US has two agencies for ratings, NHTSA and IIHS, with different methodologies. Ratings are based on frontal impact, side impact, and rollover tests.
There are important things to keep in mind about car safety ratings. While it is true that a car that receives a higher rating is generally safer to be in during a collision, there are still significant risks involved in any type of car accident. In addition, understanding the agencies that do car safety ratings and their methodologies can also help provide the vehicle owner with additional information.
Car safety ratings are determined by how well vehicles perform in crash tests. The primary goal is to determine how well the occupants inside would survive in crash tests of certain speeds and from various directions. Each vehicle is tested under the same conditions to achieve a system of uniform automotive safety ratings that are easily comparable across the industry.
There are a number of features that will help increase a vehicle’s car safety ratings. These features include: folding steering columns, reinforced door sills, crumple zones, airbags (front and side), and seat belts designed to work in conjunction with, not independent of, airbags. If all of these features work to their fullest effectiveness during crash tests, the car’s safety ratings should be pretty high.
While there are international standards for car safety ratings, each country determines its own agency in charge of car safety ratings. Some countries may not test at all, but instead rely on data collected by others. In the United States, the two agencies that make automotive safety ratings are the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The NHTSA uses a five-star system, with five being the safest. IIHS rates vehicles as poor, fair marginal, or good.
In general, most vehicle manufacturers use NHTSA numbers when advertising the safety of their vehicles. This is because it is much easier to achieve the safest rating with the NHTSA than with the IIHS. The IIHS, for example, simulates faults that are off-center, as most real-life faults would be. IIHS also uses different sizes of dummies to determine how passengers of different sizes would fare in vehicle accidents.
Three types of classifications are made that would normally cause injuries in most crashes. Those are: frontal impact, side impact, and rollover. NHTSA is the only agency that performs a rollover test. The IIHS also conducts a low-impact bumper test, which is a type of collision that would not normally cause injury. However, this gives insurance companies and drivers an idea of how much repairs would cost in such a situation.
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