Safe Passage.

• Position: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rate auto safety - Brief Article

More and more Utah car dealers are being asked about safety and practicality by customers considering a new car purchase. Determining how safe a car is can be confusing, but two national organizations can help. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, www.NHTSA.dot.gov) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS, www.hwysafety.org) rate auto safety through crash tests.

Although driver behavior, road conditions and weather each affect automobile safety ratings, crash-test results are the easiest way to measure the overall safety of a vehicle.

The NHTSA tests cars in side collisions and full frontal crashes at 35 mph, utilizing a five-star rating system. IIHS tests vehicles in an offset frontal crash at 40 mph, rating vehicles as good, acceptable, marginal or poor in terms of safety cage/structure, injury measurements (head, chest, leg), restraints, head restraint design and bumper performance.

Both organizations tests assume frontal crashes of vehicles of the same weight, which may not be the case in real-life situations. The IIHS states, "All things being equal, larger and heavier vehicles are safer than smaller, lighter ones."

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