How Safe Is Your Car In A Collision In Louisiana?

Each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) tests new vehicles, from small cars to vans and pickup trucks, in order to rate the protection they offer according to the 5-Star Safety Rating System. The frontal and side impact crash tests are the first approaches to determining the vehicle’s crashworthiness, or the way buckled-up test dummies are impacted when submitted to various types of collision simulations.

Frontal Crash Testing

The vehicle crashes head-on into a fixed barrier at 35 mph. Test dummies are fitted with sensors that measure the force of the impact to the head, neck, chest, pelvis, legs and feet. Computer software processes the resulting information to produce a level of likelihood that the car occupant has suffered a serious injury. A serious injury is defined as one that requires immediate hospital care and may be life threatening. The chances of occupants receiving serious injuries are given a star rating as follows:

• 10 percent or less chance:             5-star rating
• 11 to 20 percent chance:               4-star rating
• 21 to 35 percent chance:               3-star rating
• 36 to 45 percent chance:               2-star rating
• 46 percent or greater chance:        1-star rating

Side Crash Testing

This test simulates an intersection collision with a three-thousand-pound barrier moving at 38.5 mph into the side of a standing vehicle. This vehicle has dummies in the front and back seats. The overall likelihood of an occupant sustaining injuries is higher in a side impact than in a frontal collision, which is why the star ratings reflect lower probabilities:

• 5 percent or less chance:              5-star rating
• 6 to 10 percent chance:                4-star rating
• 11 to 20 percent chance:               3-star rating
• 21 to 25 percent chance:               2-star rating
• 26 percent or greater chance:        1-star rating

Look at the NHTSA website for more details on safety ratings, what they mean and how car models and classes compare.

If you have been hurt in a car, truck or motorcycle accident caused by someone else, contact the New Orleans accident attorneys of the Young Firm for a FREE discussion of your case. Also order now our FREE lawyer book, “A Guide To Steering Through a Serious Vehicle Accident in Louisiana.”