Autoblog

Buick Verano nails Five-Star safety rating from NHTSA

Chris Tutor — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 09:01:00 EST

Filed under: Sedan, Safety, Buick, Luxury

Congrats are in order for the 2013 Buick Verano. After its first National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash tests, the Verano can brag about its perfect Five-Star overall rating. The car received five stars in the frontal and side crash tests and four out of five for the likelihood of rolling over.

The stellar results very closely match one of the Verano's closest competitors, the Acura ILX. That car also got an overall Five-Star rating but only four stars for frontal and rollover. General Motors bragged in a press release that the Verano has standard ABS, panic brake override, StabiliTrak, 10 standard airbags and a collapsible pedal system. NHTSA found the Verano's chances of rolling over at 11.3 percent, and if a rollover did occur, GM says the Verano's head curtain airbags would remain inflated longer to reduce injury.

The Verano's Five-Star rating completes the Buick lineup's Top Safety rating from both NHTSA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Read the full press release from GM below.

Continue reading Buick Verano nails Five-Star safety rating from NHTSA

Buick Verano nails Five-Star safety rating from NHTSA originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 01 Dec 2012 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NHTSA may add extra credit to 5-star crash rating system

Chris Shunk — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:59:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

Do the star-based safety ratings of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration work? We'd point out that automakers work hard to ensure the best ratings possible, and recent data shows that our roads are now safer.

NHTSA has made the five-star rating more difficult to obtain, and now Wards Automotive reports that the government agency is looking to advance the technology that helps avoid accidents altogether. The agency reportedly told attendees at a Society of Automotive Analysts event at the Detroit Auto Show that it is considering credits that reward safety avoidance tech, though NHTSA didn't detail what technologies would be highlighted.

Technologies that avoid accidents are likely to decrease the amount of accidents over time, and one technology NHTSA finds promising are vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems. V2V tech enables vehicles to "speak" to one another, and the agency feels it could drop fatalities from about 33,000 per year to 20,000. NHTSA is reportedly testing V2V communications, and several automakers are involved.

NHTSA may add extra credit to 5-star crash rating system originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2012 Chevrolet Camaro becomes first car to ace all NHTSA safety tests

Jeff Sabatini — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:59:00 EST

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Safety, Chevrolet, GM

The Camaro usually compels us to forget about most things other than horsepower, quarter-mile times and smoky burnouts. As such, "safe" would have to be somewhere near the bottom of attributes that come to mind when we think about the venerable pony car with a Chevrolet badge on its decklid.

But here it is in black and white (and yellow): The Chevy Camaro coupe is the first vehicle to earn a perfect score in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's safety testing since the federal testing procedures were revised for 2011, according to Examiner.com. While other vehicles have earned an overall NHTSA 5-Star Safety Rating, the Camaro was the first to score a perfect five-star rating in all six test categories. Those include frontal barrier crash test ratings for the driver and passenger, side crash ratings for the driver and passenger, a rollover rating and the vehicle's overall rating.

While the report indicates that NHTSA has not yet tested its entire slate of 2012 model year vehicles, of the 46 that have completed the process, only 14 have received a 5-Star Safety Rating. Even if the Camaro's safety score is an outlier among the other accolades it has received over the years - you know, the NHRA, Trans-Am and SCCA hardware and such - kudos to Chevy.

2012 Chevrolet Camaro becomes first car to ace all NHTSA safety tests originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do crash-test ratings really matter?

Chris Shunk — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:02:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

When purchasing a new vehicle people look at a lot of different factors. If safety is your main concern, you have to rely on data from NHTSA and IIHS. On their websites you can find out how any vehicle fared in front, rear and side impact crash test. You're looking for a five-star rating from the NHTSA and a "Good" rating from the IIHS. The alternative would be to crash the cars ourselves to see how well they fare, and while some of us are crazy enough to do it, the rest would rather these two agencies handle the ditry work. We take their results at face value, but are they really accurate? Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business professors David Harless and George Hoffer decided to take the data to another level.

The professors came up with a clever way to test whether or not crash tests work: compare fatality rates for vehicles that went from a lower crash test score to a higher score after a redesign. When looking at the passenger car segment, the tests proved very accurate. When comparing a five star NHTSA rating to a one star rating the driver death rate rose 18%. Going from a two star to a five star netted a whopping 36% decrease in fatalities. When comparing data from IIHS, cars rated "Poor" saw 43% higher death rates than vehicles rated "Good". Trucks and SUVs, however, didn't see the same effect. Tests came up statistically flat between low-rated vehicles and high-rated vehicles.

Thanks for the tip, Kirk!

[Source: Yahoo]

Continue reading Do crash-test ratings really matter?

Do crash-test ratings really matter? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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