How Vehicle Crash Testing Works

 
In-the-know car buyers will look up a vehicle’s crash test scores before they purchase it to see how safe it is to drive. The most important thing when you drive a car is your safety, so it’s important to find a vehicle that lowers your chances of serious injury in an accident.
 
Every crash test is done with the same type of dummy that simulates a human being in a collision. The dummy contains three types of instrumentation; accelerometers, load sensors and motion sensors. The accelerometers are used to measure the acceleration in many parts of the body, the load sensors measure the force on the body while the motion sensors indicate how much the chest deflects during a crash. Crash testers determine the likelihood of an injury based on these three parts.
 
A good crash-test rating means the chance of getting a serious injury in a crash is very low. For example, a five-star rating for a frontal-impact crash means there is just a 10% chance of getting seriously injured in an accident. You should feel comfortable driving in a vehicle that has five-star ratings as the chances of being seriously injured are lower.
 
While there are many factors that go into purchasing a new vehicle, safety should always be at the top of the list. It’s important to find out if the vehicle has good crash-test scores in case you’re unfortunate enough to get into an accident.