Safety is an important factor to consider when shopping for a vehicle. While most cars on the road today are safe, they are not rated the same, so checking a car's safety rating is necessary for making an informed decision.
Most new cars have their safety ratings on the window sticker. However, the easiest way to check a vehicle's safety rating is to access the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) databases. These organizations provide all the necessary safety information and offer simple ways for checking a car's safety ratings.
NHTSA has established a 5-star rating program to assess the crashworthiness of new vehicles. This includes conducting frontal, side barrier, side pole, and rollover crash tests. Vehicles are then given star ratings based on their performance, with 5 stars being the highest and 1 star being the lowest. The more stars a vehicle earns, the safer it is considered to be. NHTSA requires automakers to build their cars with better crash protection and crash avoidance systems to reduce injuries to occupants and pedestrians. These systems include:
To check a car's safety rating with NHTSA, visit their website at nhtsa.gov and select "Ratings" from the menu. Alternatively, you can type "nhtsa.gov/ratings" into the address bar to view the ratings page directly. On the ratings page, enter the year, make, and model of the vehicle in question into the search box. This will generate all of the vehicle's ratings, including the various trims if available.
You can also search for ratings by manufacturer by entering the manufacturer's name in the search box. This will show all of the vehicles in the manufacturer's lineup and their corresponding ratings. NHTSA also provides information on the types of recommended safety technologies the vehicle has, whether they are offered as standard or as an option, and a link to a detailed explanation of how the vehicle performed in the various crash tests. Additionally, NHTSA indicates if there has been a recall for the vehicle, the number of recalls, investigations, complaints, and other safety issues.
The IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) is an independent, non-profit organization established by insurance associations. Like the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), the IIHS evaluates the crashworthiness and crash avoidance and mitigation systems of vehicles, and also assesses their roof strength, headrests, and headlights.
Its crash tests include small and moderate front overlaps for both the driver and passenger sides, as well as side tests, and the results are rated as "good," "acceptable," "marginal," or "poor" based on the vehicle's performance. Crash mitigation and avoidance systems are rated as "basic," "advanced," or "superior" based on the type and performance of the system.
Vehicles that receive "good" ratings for both crash tests and crash avoidance systems are awarded the "Top Safety Pick" designation, and those that receive "good" ratings for both crashworthiness and crash avoidance systems, as well as for their headlights, receive the "Top Safety Pick+" award.
Checking a car's safety ratings is straightforward. Both NHTSA and IIHS provide simple means for checking and offer all the information you need about a vehicle's safety. All you need is to enter the make and model of the car.
While a safe vehicle can protect its occupants and pedestrians, the best way to ensure safety is through safe driving practices. Even the safest vehicles may not be able to intervene when a driver makes a mistake, so defensive driving should always be the top priority for every driver, whether alone or with other occupants.
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