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| Last updated on: 7th of September 2010 at 10:22 am (EST) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and is charged with assessing traffic safety and proposing rules for improving automotive safety. Today, all vehicles sold in the United States must comply with federal motor vehicle safety standards.[1] These standards cover a broad range of safety concerns, from windshield wipers and brakes to crashworthiness and fuel integrity. To test compliance with these standards, NHTSA conducts a 30 mph frontal impact test and a 33.5 mph side impact test for all vehicles sold in the U.S. Manufacturers must certify their vehicles to be in compliance with these federal motor vehicle safety standards. Unfortunately, these tests are not very discriminating since NHTSA also conducts informational tests conducted at higher speeds, which result in low crashworthiness ratings for some of the same vehicles that “passed” the compliance tests. Higher speeds create more crash “energy” and inflict potentially more damage on the vehicle and its occupants.
NHTSA’s informational crash tests are performed under the program called NCAP (New Car Assessment Program). The ultimate goal of NCAP is to improve occupant safety through high visibility of safety ratings; thereby providing marketplace incentives for vehicle manufacturers to voluntarily design safer vehicles, rather than by regulatory directives.
NHTSA ratings used throughout this guide are those conducted under NCAP. Each year the agency chooses new vehicles which are predicted to have high sales volume, or that have been redesigned with structural changes, or with improved safety equipment. This allows focusing their resources to best represent what is actually being purchased in the marketplace. These vehicles are purchased from dealerships from across the country, just as you the consumer would. Since NHTSA selects vehicles for testing based primarily upon high sales volume, not all vehicles are tested.
The results of all crash testing performed by NHTSA under the NCAP program and rollover resistance ratings, are published on their website[2]. NHTSA also publishes actual fatality data and statistics through their Fatality Analysis Reporting Systems (FARS) which can be accessed directly at http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/. In July, 2008 NHTSA announced that beginning with model-year 2010 they will completely revamp their rating system, with more stringent crash-tests, and will provide a single rating to rate vehicle safety. (See article in LA Times.) In January, 2010 NHTSA announced postponement of the new rating system until the 2011 model year. (see NHTSA news release).
To submit questions directly to NHTSA click here Email NHTSA at: crash.test@dot.gov [1] CFR Title 49: Chapter V, Part 571. [2] NHTSA's website: http://www.safercar.gov/ |
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