NHTSA 5-star crash ratings: what the stars measure and how to compare them

The 5-Star Safety Ratings come from NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program, or NCAP, which NHTSA set up in 1978. It began rating passenger vehicles for frontal crash protection with the 1979 model year and adopted the 5-star scale in 1993; side, rollover and driver-assistance assessments came later. NHTSA describes the program’s purpose as giving buyers information on crash protection and rollover safety beyond what federal law requires. Every vehicle sold in the U.S. must already be certified by its manufacturer to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, rated or not.

The rating system in use dates from the 2011 model year. NHTSA called the changes that took effect then the most significant since the program began. They included the side pole test, first run in 2011, and the Overall Vehicle Score, which NHTSA added to the ratings in 2010. A star earned by a 2010 or older model was therefore measured under different tests from a star earned since.

NHTSA does not test every model. “Not Rated” on a label means the vehicle was not tested for that crash type, not that it failed. Ratings for a given model are published at nhtsa.gov/ratings.

1,710 model years on this site carry an NCAP overall rating, and 77% of them are 5 stars overall.

NHTSA runs one frontal and two side crash tests, with instrumented dummies belted into the seats. The stars for each seating position reflect the dummy’s chance of a serious injury, which NHTSA defines as one requiring hospitalization.

Test setups as NHTSA describes them.

NHTSA’s bands for the driver and passenger ratings in each crash test. The overall frontal and overall side ratings are set differently: against the average injury risk across the vehicle fleet.

The side barrier and side pole results are combined into front-seat and rear-seat side ratings, and those into an overall side rating, so a seat-by-seat result can differ from the summary.

Among the rated model years on this site, 45% earn 5 stars in the frontal category and 97% in the side category.

The Overall Vehicle Score is not an average of the other stars. NHTSA takes the injury probabilities behind the frontal and side ratings and a projected injury probability based on rollover resistance, weights each by the share of real-world injuries that type of crash accounts for, and compares the result with the average risk across the vehicle fleet.

The frontal test comes with a rule. Crashing into a fixed barrier represents a collision with a vehicle of the same weight, so NHTSA says frontal ratings, and the Overall Vehicle Score that is built partly on them, can only be compared between vehicles in the same class whose weights are within 250 pounds of each other. NHTSA’s own examples: a 3,400-pound car against a 3,650-pound car is a fair comparison; a 4,500-pound SUV against a 3,000-pound sedan is not; nor is a 3,600-pound pickup against a 3,400-pound van, because the classes differ even though the weights are close.

NHTSA’s classes are passenger cars (split by curb weight into mini, light, compact, medium and heavy), SUVs, pickups and vans. Side ratings can be compared across every class, because every vehicle is hit by the same barrier or pole, and so can rollover ratings.

The rollover rating is a prediction: the chance that the vehicle rolls over if it is involved in a single-vehicle crash. Since the 2004 model year NHTSA has built it from two measurements, the Static Stability Factor, an at-rest laboratory measurement of how top-heavy the vehicle is, and a “fishhook” driving maneuver that tests whether it tips up in a severe maneuver, and turned the predicted rate into stars.

Bands from NHTSA’s 2003 rollover policy statement.

Because each star covers a 10-point band, two 4-star vehicles can differ by almost 10 points of rollover risk. NHTSA publishes the percentage with the stars, and it is the finer number to compare. Rollover ratings can be compared across all vehicle classes, and NHTSA is the only organization that rates rollover resistance.

Across the rated model years on this site, the median rollover risk is 14.7%, and 20% earn 5 rollover stars.

• Protection, not avoidance. The stars measure how well the vehicle protects the people inside once a crash happens. How well its technology helps avoid a crash is shown separately, as checkmarks.
• Whole stars only. Ratings are whole numbers. There are no half stars, and nothing above five.
• One version at a time. NHTSA rates specific versions of a model, by body style and drive and sometimes by production period. A rating can carry over to a “corporate twin” the manufacturer has identified, and after a mid-year change a revised rating can apply only to vehicles built from a given date or VIN.
• Safety concerns sit outside the score. A ⚠ symbol marks a safety concern NHTSA has about the vehicle, such as a structural failure or a part that performs in an unintended way, like a fuel leak or a door opening. It is not part of the Overall Vehicle Score, so a vehicle can have high stars and a safety concern.
• Some readings are reported separately. In the side tests, lower-spine loads are measured but not scored; a reading above 82 g is reported on its own.
• Not the only crash-test program. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety runs a separate, independent program with its own tests and rating scales. Its results are not NHTSA ratings and are not interchangeable with them.

Alongside the stars, NCAP recommends crash-avoidance technologies that pass NHTSA’s performance tests, and marks them with a checkmark rather than a star. They never change the star ratings, and NHTSA’s advertising guidelines bar advertisers from attributing stars or partial stars to them. For the 2026 model year the recommended list has four entries:

• Forward collision warning: alerts you when you are getting too close to a vehicle ahead, leaving time to brake or steer.
• Lane departure warning: alerts you if you drift out of your lane without signaling.
• Crash imminent braking: applies the brakes itself to prevent a crash or reduce its severity.
• Dynamic brake support: helps the driver brake fully to a stop.

NHTSA calls the last two together automatic emergency braking. Forward collision and lane departure warning were added in 2011, and the two braking systems in 2015, for the 2018 model year; the list has also included electronic stability control and rearview video systems.

One detail matters when you read the data behind the checkmarks. From the 2023 model year, NHTSA’s ratings file records whether a vehicle is equipped with each technology separately from whether it meets NHTSA’s performance criteria. “Standard” tells you the system is fitted, not that it passed.

Share of the 2026 models on this site with an NCAP rating whose NHTSA ratings data lists each system as standard equipment.

1. Match the version.
   Check that the rating’s model year, body style and drive match the vehicle you are looking at, and watch for ratings that apply only from a mid-year build date.
2. Compare side and rollover freely.
   Both compare across any vehicles. For rollover, compare the percentage as well as the stars.
3. Compare frontal and overall only within 250 pounds.
   Frontal stars and the Overall Vehicle Score compare fairly only between vehicles of the same class within 250 pounds of each other. NHTSA’s ratings data lists the curb weight of the vehicle it tested.
4. Read the seats, not just the summary.
   Check the driver, passenger and rear-seat stars and any safety concern or footnote before relying on an overall figure.
5. Check the equipment on the trim you would buy.
   A technology listed as optional is not on every car. Confirm it on the window sticker or build sheet.
6. Then look past the crash tests.
   Recalls, owner complaints and investigations describe problems no crash test covers. Look up a vehicle’s full record → Put two vehicles side by side →

• NHTSA — Ratings: 5-Star Safety Ratings test details and FAQs
• NHTSA — Resources Related to NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program (test procedures and rating bands)
• NHTSA — Government 5-Star Safety Ratings advertising and communication usage guidelines
• NHTSA — Consumer Information; NCAP; Rollover Resistance, final policy statement, 68 FR 59250 (October 14, 2003)
• NHTSA — Consumer Information; NCAP, new rating criteria from model year 2011, 73 FR 79206 (December 24, 2008)
• NHTSA — NCAP Notice: Delay of Program Updates to model year 2027, 90 FR 45463 (September 22, 2025)
• NHTSA — Purchasing With Safety in Mind (DOT HS 812 415)
• NHTSA — 5-Star Safety Ratings data file: field definitions