NHTSA side-impact ratings summarize performance in standardized side-barrier and side-pole tests for a particular vehicle configuration; they do not reconstruct or decide an individual collision. NHTSA’s ratings can help consumers compare the agency’s test results, but the rating must be read with its vehicle and test context.

What NHTSA’s side-impact ratings measure

NHTSA’s Car Safety Ratings site presents results from the agency’s New Car Assessment Program. The side-impact information includes a side-barrier crash test and a side-pole crash test. NHTSA’s NCAP resources and test explanations describe those tests and the separate rating outputs that make up the side-impact information.

The side-barrier test

For the side-barrier test, NHTSA uses a deformable moving barrier of about 3,000 pounds travelling at 38.5 mph into the driver side of a stationary vehicle. The test uses dummies in the driver seat and driver-side rear seat and evaluates injury measures for specified body regions. It is a repeatable laboratory condition, not a measurement of every real side collision.

The side-pole test

For the side-pole test, the vehicle is angled 75 degrees and moved sideways at 20 mph into a 25-centimeter pole at the driver seating position. NHTSA uses one small-female driver dummy and evaluates injury measures for specified body regions. The pole scenario is intentionally different from the barrier scenario, so its result should be read as its own test output.

Side-barrier, side-pole, and overall-side ratings

The side-barrier and side-pole results are separate ratings. NHTSA also displays an overall-side rating that combines the agency’s side-impact rating information under its stated methodology. Those results are distinct from the Overall Vehicle Score, which is a different vehicle-level display. A side rating or an overall-side rating should not be treated as a prediction of how every crash will occur, because real events can differ in vehicle configuration, speed, angle, point of contact, occupants, restraint use, roadway conditions, and other facts.

Match the rating to the correct vehicle

Before relying on a rating, compare the model year, make, model, and variant information shown in the NHTSA result. A rating for one model year or variant may not apply to another. NHTSA’s datasets and APIs page identifies sources for looking up vehicle-rating data and reinforces the importance of using the agency’s vehicle-specific record.

Read labels and missing ratings carefully

A vehicle may show a rating for some tests and “Not Rated” for another. “Not Rated” means the vehicle was not tested for that particular crash condition; it does not mean the vehicle failed the test. NHTSA also uses a safety-concern symbol in defined circumstances. That symbol can appear with a high score and is not included in the Overall Vehicle Score calculation. Read the explanatory material on the rating page rather than treating a symbol or a missing result as a conclusion about every safety feature on a vehicle.

What a standardized rating cannot answer

A rating does not determine which driver had the right of way, how a collision occurred, whether a traffic signal was visible, whether a particular component performed as expected, or the medical cause of an injury. It also does not establish fault, coverage, damages, or legal responsibility for an individual event.

For a real intersection collision, the separate guide to T-bone collision evidence, intersection records, and timing addresses records that may be relevant to that different fact-specific question. A standardized NHTSA test is not a substitute for those event-specific records.

Rosensteel Fleishman Car Accident & Injury Lawyers provides general information about consulting a Charlotte car accident lawyer when a side-impact collision requires a fact-specific review. A vehicle rating alone does not determine the cause, fault, injury, coverage, or damages in one collision.

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