The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released on Thursday a list of new cars that it will test as part of its new, tougher five-star safety ratings program.
The list includes 54 models from the 2013MY including, 33 passenger cars, 16 SUVs, one van and four pickups. The agency says that the crash tests will provide information on almost 85 percent of vehicles sold in the US and its rollover tests will cover an impressive 92 percent of 2013 models.
“Safety is a major factor for consumers shopping for a new or used vehicle”, said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “For American car buyers, our 5-star safety ratings program serves as one of the most trusted and reliable resources to help them select the safest vehicles in the marketplace.”
The program, which has been in place since 1978, was revamped in 2010 and became tougher, partly because all the models were getting top grades, and more importantly to make automakers work harder on their vehicles’ safety.
The NHTSA’s “More Stars. Safer Cars” program now includes an overall rating, a new side crash pole test and improved crash test dummies that included smaller ones representative of females.
Read on to see the comprehensive list of the models that will be tested and view three videos of NHTSA’s crash tests.
By Andrew Tsaousis
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