5 Car Ratings You Wouldn't Believe

Road mishaps are on the constant rise, but it is not possible that one stays at home forever and does not get on road. People can safeguard themselves by acquiring a vehicle that does its best to keep them safe, if they unfortunately meet with a mishap. Based on the performance of vehicle in safety test, car ratings are awarded.

The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), a United States corporation that runs under DOT (the Department of Transport) is accountable for crash safety tests. An automobile doing well in side and frontal impact crash test, dynamic stability test mode, roll-over resistance measurements is awarded a five star rating. Insurance firms often put into use data availed by IIHS (the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) to decide on automotive coverage liability.

Frontal Collision Ratings - This is done by running the car into a wall at 35 mph. This helps in understanding the collision impact.

Side-Impact Ratings - In this a giant beam is crashed in the side of a car to see the impact on the same.

Rollover Ratings - In this, the chances of car rollover are seen.

Low-Impact Bumper Test - This checks for the impact on the car if the car hits some object.

Auto Insurance Ratings - Auto Insurance providers have their own set means to check how the car is protected from accidents and whether proper servicing is done apart from the driving history of the owner.

Before any car is introduced in marketplace, it firstly goes through several tests to make sure it is absolutely secure to drive. Such tests are often conducted to evaluate the sturdiness of car and also how much security it proffers to passengers, particularly during mishaps. The safety rating of a vehicle actually depends on how it does during the test. Crash test is conducted by driving the car into solid barricade at predetermined speed and in prescribed manner. After crash, the vehicle is taken at a distance to collect details regarding damages to different parts and structure of automobile.

In frontal offset test, the barrier is covered up with 'collapsible aluminum'. The car is driven towards barrier at varied set speed of km/h in such a manner that 40 percent of width of car is uncovered to barrier's surface on the motorist's side.

Today, an automobile includes sensors, microprocessor technology and several other things that work in collaboration to facilitate advanced safety to passengers.