Since 1978, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) 5-Star Safety Ratings have helped consumers buy vehicles that better protect them on the road. We crash-test vehicles, then assign 'star' ratings on how they perform, giving extra credit for vehicles that offer advanced safety features. One star is the lowest rating, and five stars is the highest. More stars means safer cars.

But, in a time when vehicle technologies advance at lightning speed, NHTSA must constantly innovate to stay ahead of the pace of change. That’s why, today, we’ve announced a plan to revolutionize the way we crash-test cars and rate vehicles. Our goal --as always-- is to promote an even higher level of safety and put that knowledge to work for consumers.

We’re updating our 5-Star Safety Ratings --also known as our New Car Assessment Program or NCAP-- to provide consumers with an even better system to help them shop for safety when buying a new car.

The updated 5-Star Safety Ratings will include a new crash test to measure how well vehicles protect people in angled frontal crashes, and new, more human-like crash test dummies that better measure how much protection people get in a crash. The ratings will, for the first time, fully include assessment of crash avoidance and advanced technologies designed to mitigate or prevent crashes from occurring at all.

And consumers will get this information in the familiar, easier to understand 5-Star Safety Ratings.

Here are a few highlights of NHTSA’s planned “5-Star Safety Ratings for the Future”:

• Use of the new THOR crash test dummy, the most advanced, human-like frontal crash test dummy in the world;
• A frontal oblique crash test that measures how well vehicles protect occupants in an angled frontal crash;
• Improved frontal and side crash tests to protect front and rear seat occupants;
• Use of the new WorldSID crash test dummy with advanced instrumentation to better predict injuries to various areas of the human body in different types of side crashes;
• Additional body regions (chest, abdomen, lower spine, and brain) among the factors used to determine 5-Star Safety Ratings;
• A new rating for performance assessment of selected crash avoidance and advanced technologies (vehicles with more crash avoidance and advanced technologies will earn better safety ratings);
• First-ever tests to measure head, leg, and pelvic injuries that occur when a person is struck by a moving vehicle;
• A new rating to determine not only how well a vehicle protects pedestrians, but also whether or not a vehicle is equipped with --and the performance of-- pedestrian protection advanced technologies; and
• Use of half-star ratings to provide more detailed comparative information about vehicle safety performance.

The full list of planned changes can be viewed on our website.

It's a terrific development for safety that technology is making our vehicles safer than ever. By improving our 5-Star Safety Ratings, we’ll make it even easier for consumers to shop for safety. And, we’ll better encourage automakers to deliver more advanced life-saving technologies in the cars and trucks we drive.

As always, consumers will be able to check our 5-Star Safety Ratings online at Safercar.gov and through our SaferCar app for iOS and Android devices.

NHTSA will collect public comments for the next 60 days. We hope you’ll take a look at what we’re planning for the program and offer your thoughts at www.regulations.gov. Together, we’ll make our strong 5-Star Safety Ratings even stronger.

And that will make our roads even safer.