crash tests
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The Tesla Model S is no stranger to awards and high scores, but its latest accolade could be its most important yet. Its five-star National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash test rating was revealed a few weeks back, but Tesla Motors (NSDQ:TSLA) has now revealed the car's score is the highest ever recorded by the NHTSA. While its five-star score across the board has been attained by other vehicles--around one percent of all cars tested are capable of such a score--its ratings in individual categories are higher than any other vehicle, including larger SUVs and minivans. As...
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2013 Smart Electric Drive: 4 Stars Overall For Crash Safety From NHTSA
The 2013 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive is the latest electric vehicle to have undergone the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's crash test procedures. Following frontal crash, side impact, and side pole impact tests, the Electric Drive was awarded four from a possible five stars overall...
Antony Ingram -
Which 2013 Small Cars Are IIHS Top Safety Picks?
It's not hard to see why small cars have increased in popularity over the last decade or so. Always popular among some buyers for their gas-saving abilities, today's small cars are also now quicker, more comfortable, better-equipped and safer than ever before. IIHS has been discovering just how...
Antony Ingram -
Tesla Model S Gets Five Stars For Crash Safety From NHTSA
The Tesla Model S electric sedan has become the latest car to be awarded a full five star crash test rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. While it's no surprise for modern cars to score highly in such tests, it's still an impressive feat for a young automaker like Tesla...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Ford Fusion Energi Gets Top Safety Ratings From NHTSA, IIHS
The belief that electric cars must somehow perform badly in crashes is slowly being eroded, with many well-known examples scoring well in crash tests around the world. The 2013 Ford Fusion Energi, the plug-in hybrid variant of Ford's midsize offering, is the latest to join that list, with a top...
Antony Ingram -
2014 Subaru Forester Aces New IIHS Crash Test; Other Crossovers, Not So Much
Last year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced a new crash test -- and a new rating to accompany it. A total of 13 compact SUVs recently took that test, and the 2014 Subaru Forester was the only one in the bunch to earn a "good" rating. The test in question is the "small overlap...
Richard Read -
Ford and Nissan are celebrating the results of the latest round of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash testing--but rival Toyota won't be quite so joyful. The 2013 Ford Fusion and 2013 Nissan Altima have earned a Top Safety Pick+ from the IIHS, a new level above the previous Top Safety Pick standard. It's awarded to vehicles which take into account a new small overlap crash test, which involves a 25 percent overlap into a rigid crash barrier. The test is designed to account for accidents where the primary crash protection structures are missed, instead putting much of the impact...
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Coda Electric Sedan: Only 2 Stars In NHTSA Frontal Crash Tests
As part of standard procedure, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash-tests an example of each vehicle on sale, and assigns a rating based on how it performs. Most are expected to get four or five stars out of five these days--while all cars meet basic minimum safety...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Nissan Altima Gets Five-Star NCAP Crash-Test Rating
With all eyes turned to the 2012 Paris Auto Show, Nissan has quietly announced that its all-new 2013 Nissan Altima has been awarded a 5-star overall rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in its New car Assessment Program (NCAP) Awarded top marks for both frontal crash and...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Huge 2012 Chevy Volt Crash Proves Its Safety Credentials
Ever since a battery pack from a 2012 Chevrolet Volt caught fire weeks after it was subjected to tough National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tests in a laboratory, critics of General Motor’s plug-in hybrid have been quick to question its safety credentials. But after a Toyota Camry...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
What Do Consumers Really Think Of Electric Cars? We Find Out
Depending on which websites you visit and which news channels you watch, electric cars are either portrayed as the poster children of green revolution, or an example of catastrophic government failure. But while it’s relatively easy to find examples of extreme pro- and anti-electric car...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
NHTSA Closes Chevy Volt Battery-Pack Fire Safety Investigation
Well, it's all over but the shouting now. This afternoon, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a statement saying it had closed its investigation into the causes of a fire in the battery pack of a Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car. The statement said the agency had...
John Voelcker -
An animation released by General Motors depicts the modifications to Chevy Volt that will be performed by dealers to strengthen the battery compartment.
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Chevrolet To Offer Volt Modifications Against Battery Fire Risk
GM announced today that it would offer a "customer satisfaction" initiative that provides modifications to roughly 12,400 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric cars to reduce the chance that the battery pack could catch fire days or weeks after a severe accident. The safety "enhancement" is meant...
John Voelcker -
IIHS Sticks By Volt Safety Rating: No Pack Issues After Crash Tests
Earlier this year, the public reputation of the 2012 Chevrolet Volt was changed forever after a crash-tested Volt caught fire in wrecking yard belonging to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It didn’t matter either that the battery fire started two weeks after the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Fiat 500 Gets Just 3-Stars In NHTSA Safety Test
It might be cute, get great gas mileage and ooze the same kind of retro charm as cars like the 2012 VW Beetle and the 2012 MINI Clubman, but the 2012 Fiat 500 has scored just three stars for crash safety by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). While the little two-door Fiat...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
GM Said To Be Close To Design For Volt Battery Pack Modification
Engineers at General Motors are close to finalizing a set of design modifications to the Chevrolet Volt battery pack to prevent later fires in packs that have been severely damaged in accidents. The updates come in response to two fires in lithium-ion Volt battery packs that were compromised during...
John Voelcker -
GM Offers Loan Cars To Chevy Volt Customers While Crash Fires Are Investigated
A few weeks ago we told you about a 2011 Chevrolet Volt which had caught fire in a storage yard three weeks after it was subjected to an official National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash test. But after a second Chevrolet Volt caught fire at the NHTSA test labs last week following a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is considering adopting a new set of procedures for tow trucks and wrecking yards to follow when dealing with severely crashed electric cars. The new guidelines may be implemented after an incident in which a 2011 Chevrolet Volt caught fire in an NHTSA open storage yard three weeks after it was subjected to an official side-impact test. The problem Just like a gas tank, an electric car's battery pack stores energy. In a gas tank, the energy is contained within the gasoline. In a battery, the energy is stored chemically within the...
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Third Fire Consumes A Chevy Volt Electric Car: Perspective
Neither GM nor the NHTSA has been able to replicate a fire that occurred in a wrecked Chevrolet Volt three weeks after it was demolished in an NHTSA crash test.
John Voelcker -
Plan On Crashing Your Plug-In Car? Volvo Will Keep You Safe
Cars of today are immeasurably safer than those even a decade ago, and manufacturers have been working very carefully to ensure that the different requirements of electric car construction don't mean taking a step back in safety. Volvo has always been known for safety and its plug-in cars are no...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Fiat 500 Minicar Named IIHS Top Safety Pick Despite Size
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has named the 2012 Fiat 500 minicar one of its Top Safety Picks despite the diminutive car's size.
John Voelcker -
Many Ways For Volvo To Go Green And Save Gas, Says CEO
Volvo likes to think of itself as a conscientious car company. "Why are we different?" asked Stefan Jacoby, Volvo's German CEO. "We are Swedish; we come from a human-centric company. We do things because they have a purpose for people." Safety, yes, but also green Those things used to revolve...
John Voelcker -
What Would You Give Up For Higher Gas Mileage? Cash? Features? Safety?
It happens every time. Gas prices go up sharply, and new car buyers suddenly decide that gas mileage is important--and shop accordingly. With gas around $4 a gallon in many parts of the country, what would you trade for higher miles per gallon? Would you pay more? Would you buy a smaller car than...
John Voelcker