On July 11, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced its "Final Decision Notice" [Docket No. NHTSA-2006-26555], that announces that it will make changes to its Consumer Information, New Car Assessment Program.
Back in January 2007, NHTSA published a notice announcing a public hearing and requested comments on a NHTSA report titled, "The New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) Suggested Approaches for Future Program Enhancements". This present notice summarizes the comments received and provides the NHTSA's decision on how it will improve the NCAP ratings program.
For model year (MY) 2010, NHTSA will make changes to its existing front, side crash and rollover rating programs as follows:
- For the frontal crash test program, NHTSA will maintain the 35 mph full frontal barrier test protocol but will update the test dummies and associated injury criteria used to assess and assign a vehicle's frontal impact star rating.
- For side impact, NHTSA will maintain the current moving deformable barrier test at 38.5 mph but will update that test to include new side impact test dummies and new injury criteria that are used to assign a vehicle's side impact star rating. Additionally, vehicles will also be assessed using a new pole test and a small female crash test dummy.
- For rollover, NHTSA will continue to rate vehicles for rollover propensity, but will wait to update its rollover risk model to allow for more real-world crash data of vehicles equipped with electronic stability control.
- Also for MY 2010, NHTSA will implement a new ratings program that will rate vehicles on the presence of select advanced technologies and establish a new overall Vehicle Safety Score that will combine the star ratings from the front, side, and rollover programs.
- Finally, for NHTSA's vehicle labeling program, they are announcing that the side score, rather than being based only on the moving deformable barrier test, will be based on the combination of the moving deformable barrier test and the pole test. Additionally, NHTSA will initiate rulemaking to include the new overall crashworthiness rating on the Monroney label.