Vehicle safety ratings
IIHS tests evaluate two aspects of safety: crashworthiness — how well a vehicle protects its occupants in a crash — and crash avoidance and mitigation — technology that can prevent a crash or lessen its severity.
To determine crashworthiness, we rate vehicles good, acceptable, marginal or poor, based on performance in six tests: driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraints.
In the area of crash avoidance and mitigation, vehicles with available front crash prevention systems are rated basic, advanced or superior, based on the type of system and performance in track tests. We also test headlights and rate them good, acceptable, marginal or poor.
Vehicle LATCH and booster seat ratings
Our main vehicle ratings include results of our LATCH evaluations, which show which models have easy-to-use child restraint installation hardware. For older kids, our booster seat ratings identify boosters that provide good safety belt fit.
Safe vehicles for teens
Looking for a safe used vehicle for your teenage driver? If a new model isn't in your budget, consult our list of recommended used vehicles for teens.
Truck underride guards
We crash a midsize car into the backs of parked semitrailers to make sure the rear underride guards work. Trailers whose guards prevent underride in all three of our tests earn the IIHS TOUGHGUARD award.
Safety features look-up
Crash avoidance technologies
Find out which vehicles come with standard or optional forward collision warning, autobrake, lane departure warning, lane departure prevention, adaptive headlights and blind spot detection.
Electronic stability control
ESC has been required since the 2012 model year, but if you're buying a used vehicle, check our database to make sure it comes with this essential safety feature.
Side airbags
Side airbags that protect both the head and chest provide crucial protection. Consult our database to find out the type of side airbags available in a specific vehicle.
More ways to compare
Insurance losses by make and model
Compare loss information for hundreds of vehicles under six types of coverage for damage, injuries and theft.
Driver death rates
We've computed the number of drivers killed in crashes per million registered vehicle years for more than 150 models.