Vehicle Safety Ratings
What is "rear impact protection"?
Rear impact protection is the rating given to a vehicle to withstand an impact from behind by another vehicle or from any sort of collision. Some elements of rear impact protection would be the strength and speed of the seat belts that are included in the vehicle, as well as the head restraints to reduce any fear from whiplash.
What is "rollover resistance"?
With regards to vehicle safety ratings, rollover resistance applies to certain vehicles which are based on being built with a higher center of gravity, and are therefore more prone to rolling over in a crash avoidance maneuver or any sudden turn or shift. Rollover resistance identifies systems that are built in the vehicle to help reduce this threat. Basically, it uses the analog braking system and traction control system to help the driver maintain the vehicle even in sharp curves and therefore lessening the impact or possibility of the vehicle rolling over. A good place to research this would be online; many of the different automotive sites such as IntelliChoice.com or KellyBlueBook.com are going to have ratings from governmental institutes on how well the vehicle does in a rollover test.
What is a "crash test"?
With regards to vehicle safety ratings, a crash test is a process done by a governmental or insurance institute that is going to test the vehicle in a very controlled circumstance. A crash test uses high speed film to monitor the actual impact to see what sorts of things happen at a very high rate of speed to identify how the vehicle responds. The crash test may show that the structure is such that a lot of the impact's energy is shifted away from the passenger or driver and into other parts of the vehicle. It may show the engine having a tendency to come into the passenger compartment in a head on accident. It may show whether people in the passenger seat end up getting hit by structure of the vehicle in a side impact. Therefore crash tests look at how the vehicle actually responds in an accident which is a very common problem on our highways today.
How are crash tests conducted?
When crash tests are conducted, if it is a side impact test, they'll have the car parked, roll cameras all around it, and, then run something like a big cement pylon to mimic another car coming at it at different speeds. They'll do five miles an hour, ten, fifteen, twenty, and then get the results from that. They put dummies in there and videotape them to see, for example, how far their head snaps back. In crash tests they'll put paint on the sides of dummies' heads to see where they hit in the car and to see what the structure is going to do to the vehicle and the real person's body as well. Then, in a front impact crash test, they usually put the vehicle on a track and drive it into a post – either straight on or slightly offset, then measure what the impact energy does around the vehicle, again hoping that most of it is transferred around the vehicle and not to the driver.
Where would I find crash test results on specific vehicles?
With regards to vehicle safety ratings, The Crash Protection Rating is the actual score that the governmental or insurance agency has given to that particular vehicle after running it through a battery of crash tests. All vehicles in the U.S. marketplace need to be crash tested by NHTSA and therefore any vehicle you're considering is going to have a standardized score so you can identify whether the cars safety ratings is going to save you or protect you in a crash.
