The 5-Star Safety Rating Program that Americans use when buying a new car ‘fails consumers,’ according to the Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Jennifer Homendy said many life-saving technologies like collision-avoidance was not included in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s New Car Assessment Program.
“Today, safety is not only about crashworthiness, but increasingly about crash avoidance,” said Homendy.
“Yet many of these life-saving technologies the NTSB has been recommending for decades are not included in the 5-Star Rating Program. How is it possible that a car in the US with none of the currently available collision-prevention technologies could get a top rating? It’s unacceptable.”
The rating system, first introduced in 1979, gave automakers an incentive to continually improve the crashworthiness of vehicles. As a result, most passenger vehicles manufactured today receive top crashworthiness scores.
But crash-avoidance technologies are not included in the rating system and are not on the window labels found on new cars at the dealership.
In March, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked for comments on changes to its New Car Assessment Program, commonly known as the 5-Star Safety Rating Program. The NTSB chair responded with a 13-page letter detailing ways to improve the program.
