Rollover Resistance Ratings

Vehicle Rollover Ratings

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) does not regulate rollover stability, but it does assign a rating of one to five stars on all light vehicles, in order to provide consumers with information regarding the vehicles tendency to rollover during testing.

The NHTSA released its first rollover resistance ratings in 2001. The highest rating is five stars and the lowest is one star. The NHTSA hoped this system would motivate manufacturers to design vehicles that are safer and more stable for consumers-and it has. More than half of the 2007 model year SUVs received four stars in the rollover ratings, compared to 48 of the 2006 SUVs that earned four stars out of 103 SUVs rated. Only one SUV received four stars in 2001.

The Rollover Resistance Rating is an estimate of the risk of rolling over if the passengers are involved in a single-vehicle crash-often the result of a vehicle running off the road and is "tripped" by a curb, soil or ditch. These ratings do not predict the probability of that accident.

The Rollover Resistance Ratings were compared to 220,000 actual single-vehicle crashes. These ratings are based on "static stability factor," which measures a vehicle's center of gravity to determine how top-heavy the vehicle is. The overall theme in these ratings was that taller, narrower vehicles, such as SUVs and pick-up trucks, were more likely to roll than lower, wider vehicles like passenger cars.

Then in 2004, the NHTSA developed a new test that rated the probability of SUV rollovers in an accident. These new tests used the "fishhook" maneuver (series of sharp turns at various speeds) to replicate what happens when drivers veer off the road and overcorrect.

Former tests determined a vehicle's rollover risk by using a mathematical calculation, which factored in the vehicle's specifications. Congress ordered these tests in 2000, after almost 300 people were killed in Ford Explorers with Firestone tires.

To view the latest rollover news and check the 2008 rollover ratings, visit NHTSA. To check the safety ratings for an individual vehicle, visit safercar.org. To search for defects and recalls of your vehicle, visit NHTSA's recall search.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed due to a rollover accident, contact an SUV rollover lawyer today.