NHTSA Releases List of Model Year 2005 Vehicles to be Rated for Safety

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
August 24, 2004

NHTSA 37-04
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Contact: Rae Tyson
Telephone: (202) 366-9550

The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today released a list of the model year 2005 vehicles that will be rated for safety.  These ratings will provide consumers important safety information and will assist them in their vehicle purchasing decisions.

In addition to these vehicles being rated by the agency, many vehicles are incorporated on NHTSA's list as carry-over models -- vehicles whose structural and safety features have remained unaltered from the previous year. Also, many vehicles are corporate twins of the vehicles to be rated -- those with the same structure and the same airbag/belt interaction.

For model year 2005, NHTSA has selected 74 vehicles to be evaluated in the frontal and side crash test program and 43 in the rollover program. A total of 31 passenger cars, 23 sport utility vehicles, 10 vans, and 10 pickups will be subjected to frontal and side crash safety tests. Forty vehicles will be rated for frontal impact and 34 for side impact safety. These new ratings, coupled with existing ratings for carry-over vehicles and corporate twins, will provide frontal and side impact safety information for approximately 84 percent and 69 percent, respectively, of the U.S. passenger vehicle fleet for model year 2005.

Many of the 43 models being rated in the rollover program also will be rated in frontal or side impact tests. In total, 21 passenger cars, 13 sport utility vehicles, five vans, and four pickups will be rated for rollover. Additionally, 11 of the sport utility vehicles and four of the pickups will be tested in both the 4x4 and the 4x2 mode. The integration of the rollover results with the carry-over data will offer safety information for approximately 73 percent of the model year 2005 U.S. passenger vehicle fleet.

Safety ratings for previous model years, as well as additional information on the government safety ratings program, can be obtained by visiting the web site at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ or by calling NHTSA's toll-free Auto Safety Hotline, (800) 424-9393.

NHTSA MODEL 2005 SAFETY RATINGS

The list of vehicles to be rated follows.