6 Y; |8 E7 c: u) MHow does NHTSA perform the frontal crash rating and how are vehicles rated? & z4 x5 {1 c0 C+ D2 s1 K
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For frontal crash ratings, crash-rating dummies representing an average-sized adult are placed in driver and front passenger seats and secured with the vehicle's seat belts. Vehicles are crashed into a fixed barrier at 35 miles per hour (mph), which is equivalent to a head-on collision between two similar vehicles each moving at 35 mph. Since the rating reflects a crash between two similar vehicles, make sure you compare vehicles from the same weight class, plus or minus 250 lbs., when looking at frontal crash star ratings.