IIHS, NHTSA, and Other Important Safety Acronyms

If you’ve ever shopped for a new or used car, you’ve probably heard of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). You’ve likely heard of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Both of these groups were formed on the heels of the publication of the book “Unsafe at Any Speed”. This book, authored by Ralph Nader, was published in 1965 and highlights the relative unwillingness of auto manufacturers to adopt new safety features including seat belts. The organizations investigated and compared safety features but it wasn’t until 1978 and 1995 until the NHTSA and IIHS, respectively, began conducting crash tests.

A variety of front and side impact tests are conducted by both agencies. The tests vary in their speed and structure, but they’re looking for the same thing… safety. To underscore the differences, the NHTSA performs a roll-over test; while the IIHS tests head and seat restraints for rear crashes.
Each organization tests cars that are new to the market and those that have had modifications from the previous model year. Most vehicles are tested every year, though, if there are no changes in the vehicle year-to-year, it is not tested subsequent times until a change of some sort is introduced.

Other, more specific, differences in testing procedures include that the NHTSA crashes vehicles, full-head on, at 35 mph. The IIHS performs this test at 40 mph and only on the driver’s side 40% of the front of the vehicle. This, in their description, is to accurately display the impact with another vehicle that has crossed the center line.

When we think of vehicle “Star” ratings, we’re generally are referring to the NHTSA’s ratings. In the fall of 2010 the NHTSA revised their Five-Star rating system. Initially, there was some resistance to the change. The term “teaching to the test” comes to mind. The safety tests had become so standardized and their protocols so well known, that manufacturers had figured out how to make nearly their entire product line qualify as 5-star certified. The testing procedures needed to be changed to keep up with and push safety standards to new levels.

"We want to make manufacturers stretch to make the cars as safe as we believe is technologically feasible," said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland. "The tests need to keep up with the state-of-the-art technology."

Some of the testing revisions include the addition of a new dummy, intended to represent smaller female passengers, and additional, more stringent side-crash criteria. The previous versions of the tests used a medium sized, male dummy to represent all drivers. "We recognize that this didn't properly capture a significant portion of the American populace," Strickland said. "We added the small female dummy to capture how a crash would impact them in terms of injuries." Additionally, the NHTSA introduced an overall summary of the report for easy, at-a-glance safety assessment. The new ratings, however, can’t be compared side-by-side with previous model year assessments.

Look for new ratings to appear on 2011 model year vehicles. Information can be obtained from safercar.gov. Are we removing more responsibility from the driver and moving to a place where driving is too safe?