Here are quick tips to understand NHTSA crash ratings:

Each tested vehicle receives a rating, from one star to five stars, for frontal testing and side-impact testing:

  • with frontal tests, the top rating of five stars indicates a 10% or less chance of serious injury with a crash,
  • while a five star rating with side-impact tests means a 5% or less chance of significant injury.

Another system (IIHS) rates cars by good, acceptable, marginal or poor.

RK Chevrolet / RK Scion auto body shop tip #2: watch for the “Volt,” a powerful car that looks cool and is earth-friendly.

At the recent North American International Show (NAIAS), organizers showed attendees the Volt. This battery-powered car will create electricity from gasoline, ethanol, diesel or hydrogen. This means that emergency stops for gasoline may become something from the past. The car isn’t in production yet, but plans are to move forward with the Chevrolet Volt and I’m very impressed with what I see.