Car Ratings, often presented as star ratings, are designed to give you a quick understanding of a vehicle’s safety performance. These ratings, like the Overall Vehicle Score, are calculated by considering the chance of injury in different types of crashes.
Decoding the Overall Vehicle Score
The Overall Vehicle Score is not just a simple average. It’s a carefully calculated score derived from injury probabilities in frontal and side crash tests, along with a projected injury probability based on rollover resistance assessments. These individual probabilities are then weighted to reflect how common each type of accident is in the real world. This weighted result is compared against the average injury risk across all vehicles. This comparison determines if a particular vehicle poses a higher or lower injury risk than the typical vehicle on the road.
The star ratings associated with the Overall Vehicle Score are straightforward:
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Significantly lower than average injury risk.
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐: Lower than average to average injury risk.
- ⭐⭐⭐: Average to greater than average injury risk.
- ⭐⭐: Greater than average injury risk.
- ⭐: Significantly greater than average injury risk.
Comparing Car Ratings Effectively
It’s crucial to understand that comparing car ratings has limitations. Because the Overall Vehicle Score is partly based on frontal crash test results, comparisons should only be made between vehicles in the same class and with similar weights. Specifically, you can only directly compare vehicles if their weights are within 250 pounds of each other.
To illustrate appropriate and inappropriate comparisons, consider these examples:
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Incorrect Comparison: You cannot compare the ratings of a 4,500-pound SUV to a 3,000-pound sedan. This is invalid because they are in different vehicle classes and the weight difference exceeds 250 pounds.
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Incorrect Comparison: Comparing a 3,600-pound pickup truck to a 3,400-pound minivan is also not valid for overall scores. While the weight difference is within the limit, they belong to different vehicle classes.
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Correct Comparison: You can accurately compare the ratings of a 3,400-pound passenger car to another passenger car weighing 3,650 pounds. They are in the same class and the weight difference is within the permissible 250-pound range.
Understanding these nuances ensures you use car ratings effectively when evaluating vehicle safety and making informed purchasing decisions.
