When choosing an automobile, consider safety for yourself and your passengers. You want a car that can protect you in an accident and reduce collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, and objects. Finding the safest cars is difficult. NHTSA and IIHS automobile safety ratings can be helpful. This page will explain these ratings and how they’re calculated. We’ll also showcase top-performing safety vehicles.
What are vehicle safety ratings?
Vehicle safety ratings are assessments or accolades that indicate the performance of a vehicle in crash tests and evaluations. These evaluations gauge how effectively a vehicle safeguards its occupants inside and rollover accidents as well as its ability to prevent or minimize the impact of collisions through advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). In the United States there are two authorities responsible for providing vehicle safety ratings.
- NHTSA: This is a federal agency that regulates vehicle safety standards and conducts crash tests for new vehicles. NHTSA rates vehicles on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, with 5 stars being the highest rating. NHTSA also verifies the performance of certain ADAS, such as lane departure warning, forward collision warning, crash imminent braking, and dynamic brake support.
- IIHS: This is a nonprofit organization that conducts research and tests on vehicle safety and advocates for safer roads and policies. IIHS awards Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick Plus to vehicles that meet or exceed its standards for crashworthiness, crash avoidance, and headlight performance.
How are vehicle safety ratings determined?
Vehicle safety ratings are determined by different methods and criteria by NHTSA and IIHS. Here are some of the main differences between them:
Crash test scenarios
NHTSA conducts frontal, side, and rollover tests using fixed barriers or moving sleds to simulate different types of crashes. IIHS conducts frontal, side, roof strength, head restraint, and small overlap front tests using fixed or deformable barriers to simulate more realistic crash scenarios.
Crash test dummies
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) uses mannequins of sizes to simulate types of occupants. This includes a adult male, in the drivers seat and a smaller adult female in the front passenger seat. On the other hand the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) employs advanced and realistic mannequins compared to NHTSA. For instance they use an adult male in the driver’s seat and a petite female, in the front passenger seat.
Crash test ratings
NHTSA assigns stars to each test based on the injury risk to different body regions of the dummies. The overall vehicle score is calculated by weighting the frontal, side, and rollover ratings. IIHS assigns ratings of good, acceptable, marginal, or poor to each test based on the structural performance of the vehicle and the injury measures of the dummies. The overall vehicle rating is based on the lowest rating among all tests.
ADAS verification
NHTSA verifies whether certain ADAS are present and functional in vehicles by testing them on a track under controlled conditions. NHTSA does not rate these systems but lists them on its website as recommended technologies. IIHS evaluates how well certain ADAS prevent or mitigate front-to-rear crashes by testing them at different speeds and scenarios. IIHS rates these systems as superior, advanced, basic, or not available.
Which vehicles stand out for their safety ratings?
According to NHTSA and IIHS, more than 50 vehicles earned the highest safety ratings for 2022. These include cars, SUVs, pickups, electric vehicles (EVs), and hybrids from various brands and segments. Here are some of the vehicles that stand out for their safety ratings:
Hyundai Motor Group
This category contains Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. They beat automakers with 15 vehicles in the 2022 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus award. The Hyundai Elantra Hybrid, Kia K5, Genesis G70, Hyundai Palisade, and Kia Sorento Hybrid are significant automobiles in this category. Small SUV Hyundai Kona Electric, small car Kia Soul, and compact car Kia Forte.
Volkswagen Group
This group includes Volkswagen and Audi brands. It has 12 models that earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus award for 2022, the second most among automakers. Some of these models are Volkswagen Jetta (compact car), Audi A4 (compact luxury car), Audi A6 (large luxury car), Audi Q5 (midsize luxury SUV), Volkswagen Tiguan (small SUV), and Volkswagen Taos (small SUV).
Volvo
This brand has 10 models that earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus award for 2022, the third most among automakers. All of its models, except for the XC40 Recharge EV, achieved this honor. Some of these models are Volvo S60 (midsize luxury car), Volvo S90 (large luxury car), Volvo XC60 (midsize luxury SUV), Volvo XC90 (large luxury SUV), and Volvo V60 Cross Country (midsize luxury car).
Electric vehicles
NHTSA has included nine EV models in its testing list for 2022, the largest number ever. These models are Audi Q4 e-tron, Chevrolet Bolt EUV, Chevrolet Bolt EV, Ford F-150 Lightning, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Kona Electric, Kia Niro Electric, Polestar 2, and Tesla Model 3. These models are expected to perform well in crash tests and have advanced ADAS features.
Conclusion
The safety ratings of vehicles are important in assessing the level of protection they provide to you and your passengers in case of an accident. These ratings also evaluate a vehicle’s effectiveness in preventing or reducing the severity of accidents. When buying a car it is advisable to consult sources like NHTSA and IIHS for safety ratings. It is recommended to consider vehicles that receive high safety ratings, from both organizations mentioned earlier.
