This blog is not affiliated with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in any way, shape, or form. Information is taken from the publicly viewable NHTSA Database. Crash tests posted on this blog were conducted between May 21, 1979 and August 17, 1989 at a speed of 35 miles per hour (56 kilometers per hour) into a solid wall with dummies restrained by the vehicle safety belt system. Tests were conducted on the model year vehicle listed in the post and may or may not be accurate for a differing model year. Injury measures are likely accurate to a plus or minus 2% range - for example, a 26% risk of injury is likely in the 24-28% range. The five star system used for 2010 and earlier crash tests is used.

Injury risk:
10% or less - 5 star rating
11% - 20% - 4 star rating
21% - 35% - 3 star rating
36% - 45% - 2 star rating
46% or more - 1 star rating

Friday, September 17, 2021

30 MPH NHTSA Crash Tests

In addition to the 35 mph crash tests I posted in 2012-2014, I am now posting crash tests that NHTSA did in the same manner, but at 30 mph. "The same manner" means a belted driver and front passenger instrumented dummy and a full-frontal impact.
These 30 mph tests were not released as results to consumers "back in the day" like the 35 mph tests were; nevertheless, they are a type of crash test that NHTSA did on numerous different vehicles in the 1970s and 1980s. This is not an exhaustive list of 30 mph full frontal crash tests; some of these tests are so old (the cut-off is around 1978), they're not available on the NHTSA database. Where dummy measures are suspicious or unreliable, this will be noted.
These tests were done beginning in the 1977 model year. Some of these 30 mph tests were done on cars, some were done on trucks, SUVs and vans, and some on electric vehicles. Because NHTSA never did series crash testing on electric vehicles, didn't expand their crash test program to trucks, SUVs, and vans until 1983, and didn't start the 35 mph test until 1979, these are the only frontal crash tests available for many of these vehicles. 
No star rating was given for these vehicles. 

Keep in mind that the 35 mph test has 36% more crash force than the 30 mph test, and thus results aren't comparable. Vehicles could be expected to perform worse at 35, but the degree varied from vehicle-to-vehicle; while most saw a moderate increase, some didn't get much worse, and others saw their HICs and/or chest G's double or more! 

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