Vehicle ratings
Current winners listed at left | Past Top Safety Pick winners
The Institute rates vehicles good, acceptable, marginal, or poor based on performance in high-speed front and side crash tests plus evaluations of seat/head restraints for protection against neck injuries in rear impacts. The first requirement for a vehicle to become a Top Safety Pick is to earn good ratings in all three Institute tests. Another requirement is that winning vehicles must offer electronic stability control. This requirement is based on Institute research indicating that ESC significantly reduces crash risk, especially the risk of fatal single-vehicle crashes, by helping drivers maintain control of their vehicles during emergency maneuvers.
Crashworthiness refers to how well a vehicle protects its occupants in a crash.
40 mph frontal offset crash tests are good assessments of vehicles' structural design
• Frontal offset crash test details, ratings criteria, and crash test verification
Side impact crash tests are good assessments of occupant protection when vehicles are struck in the side by
SUVs or pickups
• Side impact crash test details and ratings criteria
• Vehicles with side airbag protection systems
Rear crash protection/head restraint ratings focus on how well seat/head restraint
combinations protect against whiplash injury
• Procedures for rating seat/head restraints
• Rear crash protection ratings by make:
Vehicles equipped with electronic stability control (ESC)
About half of the fatal passenger vehicle crashes that occur each year involve a single vehicle. Equipping vehicles with ESC can reduce the risk of involvement in these crashes by more than 50 percent.
• ESC availability by make and model
Bumper testing program
The Institute's new series of tests does a better job than the old tests in matching the kind of low-speed impacts that occur in the real world. Each car is run into a barrier designed to mimic the design of a car bumper. The steel barrier's plastic absorber and flexible cover simulate typical cars' energy absorbers and plastic bumper covers.
The four tests include front and rear full-width impacts at 6 mph and front and rear corner impacts at 3 mph. The barrier is 18 inches from the ground in the full-width tests and 16 inches from ground in the corner impacts. These heights are designed to drive bumper improvements and lead to better protection from damage in a range of real-world crashes. In developmental tests, these configurations produced the kinds and amounts of damage that commonly occur in low-speed collisions.
December 20, 2007 news release: Minivan bumper test results: Nissan Quest is by far the worst performer
August 2, 2007 news release: Bumpers on luxury cars aren't luxurious: worst is Infiniti G35; 4 of 11 cars sustain more than $10,000 damage in 4 minor bumps
March 1, 2007 news release: First results of new crash tests: most car bumpers don't work in low-speed crashes; 3 cars sustain $4,500 damage in 6 mph test while old Ford Escort sustains little damage
Vehicles covered in this release
- Mitsubishi Galant
- Toyota Camry
- Mazda 6
- Ford Fusion
- Volvo S40
- Kia Optima
- Saturn AURA
- Nissan Altima
- Chevrolet Malibu
- Subaru Legacy
- Chrysler Sebring
- Hyundai Sonata
- Honda Accord
- Volkswagen Passat
- Pontiac G6
- Volkswagen Jetta
- NIssan Maxima
- 1981 Ford Escort
|
