Four stars means Chevy Camaro falls short of Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger crash tests

2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS - Click above for high-res image gallery

Modern muscle car buyers looking for reasons to purchase one machine over another may not be as easily swayed by safety ratings as horsepower figures and zero-to-sixty times. Regardless, Ford Mustang aficionados and Mopar enthusiasts high on the Dodge Challenger now have a bit of forum fodder against their arch rival from General Motors. How so? The 2010 Chevy Camaro has just been crash tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and it's only managed to earn a four-star driver and passenger frontal rating.

For the sake of comparison, the 2010 Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger each came away full five-star report cards in this test. What does it all mean? According to NHTSA's website, the full five stars means the is a 10-percent or less chance of serious injury in an accident. Four stars means there's an 11- to 20-percent chance of serious injury in the same scenario. Click here to check out the official NHTSA stats.