Comparing car safety is crucial when purchasing a new vehicle. Ratings like the Overall Vehicle Score are designed to help consumers understand crashworthiness, but it’s vital to know how to properly Compare Cars Side by side using these scores. This guide explains how the Overall Vehicle Score is calculated and, more importantly, the limitations you must consider when you compare cars side based on these ratings.
Decoding the Overall Vehicle Score
The Overall Vehicle Score, often presented as a star rating from one to five stars, is a comprehensive safety assessment. It’s derived from a vehicle’s performance in frontal and side crash tests, as well as rollover resistance evaluations. These individual test results are combined using a weighted formula that reflects the real-world frequency and severity of different crash types. The resulting score indicates whether a vehicle’s overall injury risk is higher or lower than the average risk across all vehicles.
Here’s a breakdown of what each star rating signifies:
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Significantly lower than average injury risk.
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐: Lower than average to average injury risk.
- ⭐⭐⭐: Average to higher than average injury risk.
- ⭐⭐: Higher than average injury risk.
- ⭐: Significantly higher than average injury risk.
It’s tempting to directly compare these star ratings across all vehicles. However, this is where critical limitations come into play, particularly when you want to compare cars side by side for safety.
The Crucial Caveats: Class and Weight for Car Comparisons
A fundamental rule to remember is that Overall Vehicle Scores, and even frontal crash test ratings that contribute to the overall score, are only directly comparable between vehicles that are in the same class and have a weight difference of no more than 250 pounds. This restriction is essential because larger and heavier vehicles naturally offer more protection in crashes, especially when colliding with smaller, lighter vehicles.
To illustrate why these limitations are so important when you compare cars side by side, consider these examples:
- Incorrect Comparison: You cannot directly compare the safety score of a 4,500-pound SUV to a 3,000-pound sedan. They are in different vehicle classes (SUV vs. sedan), and the weight difference exceeds 250 pounds. The heavier SUV is likely to score better simply due to its size and mass, not necessarily superior inherent safety design for occupants within its class.
- Incorrect Comparison: Similarly, comparing a 3,600-pound pickup truck to a 3,400-pound minivan is invalid, even though the weight difference is within the 250-pound limit. Pickups and minivans are distinct vehicle classes, designed with different structures and for different purposes, impacting their crash performance in ways that a simple score comparison doesn’t capture accurately across classes.
- Correct Comparison: It is valid to compare the safety scores of a 3,400-pound passenger car with a 3,650-pound passenger car. Both are passenger cars (same class), and their weight difference (250 pounds) is within the permissible range. In this case, a higher Overall Vehicle Score truly suggests better relative safety performance between these comparable vehicles.
Making Informed Safety Comparisons
When you compare cars side by side for safety, especially when considering factors like side impact protection (which is factored into the Overall Vehicle Score), always verify that you are comparing vehicles within the same class and similar weight range. Failing to do so can lead to misleading conclusions about vehicle safety. Focus on comparing vehicles that are realistic alternatives for your needs and fall within the appropriate comparison parameters to make informed decisions based on safety ratings. Remember to consult official sources for vehicle safety ratings and understand the specific guidelines for comparison to ensure you are interpreting the data correctly.
