Vehicle safety is global - Global NCAP

iihs.org
Vehicle Research Center
988 Dairy Road
Ruckersville, VA 22968
USA
T +1 (434) 985-4600
vrc@iihs.org
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, founded in 1959, is an independent,
nonprofit, scientific, and educational organization dedicated to
reducing the losses — deaths, injuries, and property damage — from
crashes on the nation’s highways. The work of IIHS is wholly supported
by U.S. insurers.
The Institute’s Vehicle Research Center was dedicated in 1992, and
crash research conducted there eventually led to IIHS front crashworthiness
ratings in 1995. At the same time, IIHS was rating vehicle head
restraint geometry to encourage designs better able to mitigate whiplash
injuries. IIHS added side crashworthiness ratings in 2004 and also
began basing its whiplash mitigation ratings on results of simulated rear
crashes (sled tests). In 2009, IIHS began rating roof strength to promote
better rollover crashworthiness.
TOP SAFETY PICK, IIHS’s highest safety accolade, was initiated in
2006 to help consumers easily identify those vehicle designs that had
achieved the highest level of crashworthiness as indicated by results
of IIHS tests. It has also been used to promote other life-saving safety
features such as electronic stability control (ESC). TOP SAFETY PICK
continues to evolve, ever raising the bar for safety in the U.S.
CURRENT programs
IIHS maintains front, side, roof, and whiplash mitigation ratings for about
190 current model vehicle designs that represent about 92 percent of
the new passenger vehicle fleet in the United States. Research using
crash records indicates that occupants of vehicles with good ratings in
IIHS tests have reduced risk of injury and death:
• In 2-vehicle frontal crashes, the driver fatality risk in vehicles with
good IIHS front ratings is 46 percent lower than in those rated poor.
• Among vehicles with standard side airbags for the head and torso,
those with good IIHS side crash ratings have a driver fatality risk that
is 70 percent less than that of those rated poor.
• Research that led to the initiation of IIHS roof strength tests
indicates that the risk of serious injury or death is reduced by 34
percent in rollover crashes among good-rated vehicles compared
with poor ones.
• The risk of neck injury in rear crashes is 15 percent lower for drivers
in seats with good ratings than for those in seats rated poor. For
injuries lasting 3 months or more, the difference is 35 percent.
In addition to front, side, roof, and rear safety crash ratings, IIHS
rates vehicle bumpers for their ability to prevent expensive damage
in low-speed crashes. Since 2008, IIHS has rated belt-fitting booster
seats for their ability to correctly position safety belts on children in a
variety of vehicles.
fUTURE plans
IIHS researchers are developing a new frontal crash test to evaluate
a vehicle’s ability to protect occupants in frontal crashes with smaller
overlap than the current IIHS frontal test.
IIHS researchers are monitoring real-world performance of driver assistance
and crash avoidance technologies with the intention of promoting
those that are shown to be effective at helping drivers avoid crashes.
Recent IIHS research suggests the possible need for comparison testing
of heavy truck underride guards.