Understand safety ratings, orgs that rate them
Every year, vehicles in the U.S. get safer.With each manufacturer’s redesign, vehicles target key safety ratings by incorporating new technologies car buyers value, which will protect their families and others on the road.
It is true that new cars are put through more rigorous safety testing that ever before, but data shows vehicles are getting safer every year.
Two organizations test vehicles for crashworthiness in the U.S. They each test cars differently, so considering both agencies’ ratings are important. The first is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a government agency that’s part of the Department of Transportation; and the other is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a nonprofit founded and funded by car insurance companies.
OFFSET CRASHES
The IIHS tests are more rigid, as they incorporate “offset” crash tests. The offset test is unique: Imagine hitting a wall square on – the force is spread out over the entire front of the car, deforming the “crumple zone” to help absorb all that energy.
But, most car crashes aren’t in a lab, and few involve hitting a wall square on. So, some IIHS tests involve a car crashing into an object with less of the front end of the vehicle involved – between 40 and 25 percent, that’s a lot less ability to absorb the impact energy.
HEADLIGHTS
To get the highest IIHS rating, headlight performance is also considered. Good headlights won’t keep you from getting hurt in a crash, but they may stop the crash in the first place. The NHTSA does not consider headlight performance, but that doesn’t make NHTSA ratings irrelevant, or IIHS ratings better. They’re simply different, revealing different things about the car.
The safest car is one that performs well on all the tests. Getting top ratings from both, which would be 5 stars from NHTSA and a “Top Safety Pick” rating from IIHS. Achieving these levels of safety is considered a good indication a vehicle is going to be safe in a wide variety of crashes.