5 Stars Safety... Is It Really Safe?

[davidv00]

Ever imagine what is the real meaning or specifications behind any vehicles sold in the market labeled with 5 stars safety rating?

This is the American rating for car crash safety rating:

Front crash:-

5 stars - 10 percent or less chance of serious injury

4 stars - 11 percent to 20 percent chance of serious injury

3 stars - 21 percent to 35 percent chance of serious injury

2 stars - 36 percent to 45 percent chance of serious injury

1 star - 46 percent or greater chance of serious injury

Side Impact:-

5 stars - 5 percent or less chance of serious injury

4 stars - 6 percent to 10 percent chance of serious injury

3 stars - 11 percent to 20 percent chance of serious injury

2 stars - 21 percent to 25 percent chance of serious injury

1 star - 26 percent or greater chance of serious injury

And after finding out their testing criterias, which is based on the following specifications, you might want to rethink the rating system, if it is truly reliable in saving one's life during accidents?

1. The tests are conducted at speeds of 35 to 38.5 mph. Wait a minute.....35-38.5 mph? Who drives 35-38.5 mph. when the rest of the world is traveling at 45-75 mph? The government safety ratings do not cover anything over 38.5 mph. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety raises the bar though...they test at 40mph; a full 1 1?2 mile per hour faster...zoom, zoom.

2. Crash dummies only simulate full size adults, not teens, not children, not infants. Aren’t teenagers, children and infants passengers too? Why don’t they include it in the ‘rating’ system? The crash dummies are wearing seat belts in all cases, front and rear seats...(everyone in vehicles always wears their seat belts, don’t they?).

3. The crash dummies are wired to measure injuries to head, neck, chest, pelvis, legs and feet, but all these findings are not included in the rating. The ratings only measure head and chest injuries for frontal crashes and head injuries only for side crashes (evidently, other injuries are not serious enough to count in a government study).

4. Impact assumptions are for similar vehicles, differing no more than 250 lbs. This means if you are driving a small, full size or luxury car and you hit an SUV or a minivan...the rating doesn’t count (and it certainly doesn’t count if you happen to hit a tractor trailer...those crashes might change the star ratings).

5. Finally, the rating is only referring to injuries that require immediate hospitalization or are life-threatening.

If the above criterias applys, you would hence refer as:

1) If you happen to be in a crash faster than 38.5 mph, forget about the rating scales altogether!

2) If you are a teen, child or infant sitting anywhere in the car, forget about the rating scale altogether!

3) If you hit any vehicle that is larger, smaller, or not almost exactly what you are driving, forget about the rating scale altogether!

4) If you are not wearing your seat belt, forget about the rating scale altogether!

5) If someone at the accident scene says “you look fine”, forget about the rating scale altogether!

6) If you happen to be driving a “5 Star Rated” vehicle at 32 mph, hit a car head-on exactly like yours and are wearing your seat belt, according to the ratings you still have a 1 in 10 chance of being killed!

7) Lastly, if you are driving a “1 Star Rated” vehicle (I don’t know of any) and are in the same accident, you still have a 50-50 chance of surviving.

So, what is the conclusion?

1. Find out the car makers crash test specifications and criterias/assumptions.

2. Don't drive too fast?

3. Keep your distance front and rear

4. Wear your seatbelt, and make sure other passengers does too

5. Keep your car in top maintenance condition

6. Don't drink and drive!

7. Remember this topic whenever you speeding...lolx :_:

Source: Airbag Solutions
Article: Me

 

[ivan7]

jo, u got a list of the cars tested in the stars safety? and the results if u have, mind sharing?

 

[si|verfish]

Now this should be more about common sense.

Crash testing is like any other scientific tests. It is done with various assumptions and a finite amount of parameters and preset boundaries. You have to keep that in mind.

That said, just ask yourself this question. In the event of an accident, would you not rather be in a 5 star rated car, than a 2 or 3 star car? I would most certainly take my chances in a higher rated vehicle, thank you very much.

 

[si|verfish]

Personally I would prefer to stick with EuroNCAP rather than any other tests done by any other organisation.

If you want to educate yourself and not rely on what people tell you, you can read about EuroNCAP testing here; Euro NCAP - For safer cars | Protocols

Or for the short version, read the FAQ; Euro NCAP - For safer cars | The testing process

 

[MeraBoy]

Crash testing is like any other scientific tests. It is done with various assumptions and a finite amount of parameters and preset boundaries. You have to keep that in mind.
That said, just ask yourself this question. In the event of an accident, would you not rather be in a 5 star rated car, than a 2 or 3 star car? I would most certainly take my chances in a higher rated vehicle, thank you very much.

...agreed, i would also rather be in a 5-star rated car, which has a HIGHER CHANCES OF SURVIVAL.

some queries :
1)which "American rating" is referred to ? The pic showed IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), but the description of the rating is referred to NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation).

IIHS is a nonprofit research and communications organization funded by auto insurers. Links:About IIHS. Apparently, the vehicle's premium will be affected by the crash test results.

NHTSA Home page

Both + EuroNCAP + ANCAP+JapaNCAP r aiming to help reduce deaths, injuries, and property damage from motor vehicle crashes.

2)IIHS rates venicles with Good/Acceptable/Marginal/Poor; while NHTSA's rating is based on Star system.

Notes from NHTSA: Each organization’s rating results are generally for vehicles sold in its respective country or region. Vehicle specifications, and therefore crash results, may vary between countries. As such, comparing the rating results for a similarly named vehicle model from different countries should be done with care, as there can be differences in the rating protocols and rating systems as well as the vehicle model itself.
...so, never mix with diff rating system. NCAP FAQ

3)

The crash dummies are wired to measure injuries to head, neck, chest, pelvis, legs and feet, but all these findings are not included in the rating.The ratings only measure head and chest injuries for frontal crashes and head injuries only for side crashes...

Nah, this is the correct statement for side crashes:

Side-collision star ratings indicate the chance of a serious chest injury for the driver, front seat passenger, and the rear seat passenger (first and second row occupants). Head injury, although measured, is not currently included in the star rating.NCAP FAQ

Who said "all the findings r not included in the rating" ?, Nah,

Versa-2007 model-side test.

4)

If you happen to be in a crash faster than 38.5 mph, forget about the rating scales altogether!.

...NOBODY know the RESULT UNLESS CRASH it over 38.5mph, but how much ? 40, 60, 80? Better build as THICK as a TANK! They must hv a REALISTIC LIMIT/REFERENCE for the test. See below statistics (Traffic safety report 2005), as well as :

NHTSA’s NCAP crash ratings, 35 mph for frontal crash ratings and 38.5 mph for side-impact crash ratings, are performed at 5 mph more than the corresponding FMVSS compliance rating speeds. NHTSA FAQ

5)

Crash dummies only simulate full size adults, not teens, not children, not infants. Aren’t teenagers, children and infants passengers too? Why don’t they include it in the ‘rating’ system?

...it just showed how ignorant . U can get various size of dummy fr here :
Denton ATD, if u hv money. A full-size ATD equipped with sensors can cost more than $130,000 (about RM0.5million) Adult Frontal Impact ATDs

some car maker also tested teen & kids dummies, eg Volvo:
<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oQpxk3YcjR0"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oQpxk3YcjR0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>

6)

Find out the car makers crash test specifications and criterias/assumptions

...i doubt u can get it, instead u can refer to NHTSA Test Reference Guides


Let FACTS DO THE TALKING (Traffic safety report 2005 (USA)-NHTSA):

Almost 30% r Injury & 0.6% r Fatal cases for the past 18 years (1988-2005),...

...with extra 50 million ppl. Both Fatality & Injury Rate per 100,000 ppl r reduced with 1/5 & 1/3 reduction, respectively for the same period of time.

Adult above 16 years r the victims of Fatality & Injury category, either as Driver or Front Passenger. Maybe it's the reason y adult dummy is used for testing, NOT BASED ON HYPOTHESIS.

For both highlighted Low Speed Limit categories, they r accounted for the majority fatal crashes in Urban than in Rural (more than 2.5X).

For All Crashes: Speed Limit of 40 mph account for almost 50% and more than 50 % for crashes involved Single & Multiple Vehicle, respectively. Exception is 55mph category involved Single vehicle.

The reduction in fatality & injury r partly due to the long term effort carried out by organisation like IIHS, NHTSA & EuroNCAP to push automakers to produce higher safety vehicle based on based on scientific data. Human factor also play an important role in reducing accident.

Even the Original author is contradicting himself in his article here,

How about rear-end crashes, what are the ratings for that?

, while citing the reference of BOTH IIHS & NHTSA, dun he know that IIHS does indeed conduct Rear Crash Test ? At least this can be a "reference" while knowing that

NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program has a limited budget and must concentrate its ratings on front and side-impact crashes which every year are responsible for the highest percentage of deaths and serious injuries.

Last but not least, as like others WHO ALWAYS GIVE CREDITS TO THE ORIGINATOR WITH LINKS, maybe it's a good practice & should follow & make it a habits.

 

[popout]

how many star proton wira get???

 

[MeraBoy]

how many star proton wira get???

...haiyah, wira is not sold in USA mah, so no testing lah.

the ONLY proton car tested in EuroNCAP is waja (under the name of impian), which is 3-star, result is here.

 

[doppelganger]

bump:D
NCAP stands for New Car Assessment Program..

;)