As Car Buying Season Approaches, New NHTSA Report Shows Newer Vehicles Are Safer

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
9 May 2018

Washington, DC

As consumers flock to local dealerships during May—the beginning of the busiest car buying season — the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released new data that shows new model year vehicles are the safest on U.S. roads.

“We encourage car buyers to select vehicles that meet their individual lifestyle, budget and transportation needs with the added assurance that they are making an investment in safety,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Heidi King. 

NHTSA’s analysis looked at fatal crashes involving passenger cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks, and the data showed that a greater proportion of deaths among passengers in fatal crashes occurred within older model year vehicles, compared to new model year vehicles. As vehicle safety improvements become more widespread, this trend is expected to continue.

To help educate consumers, NHTSA created a pocket shopping guide to make today’s driver assistance technologies easy to understand for all drivers. It’s available on NHTSA.gov, along with the agency’s 5-Star Safety Ratings that evaluate how vehicles perform in crash tests.

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