Frontal crash results should be compared against other vehicles in the same weight class. If a light vehicle collides head-on with a heavier vehicle at 35mph, the occupants in the lighter vehicle could experience a greater chance of injury than the results of this test indicate. In the side crash rating, vehicles are classified by the estimated chance of a life threatening chest injury for the driver and the rear seat passenger. Head injury is not measured in the side crashes. Drivers and passengers in both the frontal and side crash rating receive a one to five star rating with five stars indicating the best protection.
Vehicles are twice as likely to be involved in severe frontal crashes than in severe side crashes.
Test results show the relative crash protection provided to occupants using all of the vehicle's occupant protection equipment. Occupant protection equipment consists of safety belts and air bags. The results do not apply to unbelted occupants. All vehicles had safety belt systems for all occupants and frontal air bags for the driver and right front seat passenger. The side air bag equipment provided on each tested vehicle is shown to the right of the vehicle's overall score.