National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Dateline: 02/06/98
While cars are one of the few items that the Consumer Product Safety Commission does not cover, cars and driver safety are the primary focus of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Or, as they say on their great Home Page - "NHTSA is responsible for reducing deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes." The NHTSA operates under Title 49, United States Code Chapter 301 Motor Vehicle Safety.
The NHTSA Web site comes in three main sections; Cars - Vehicle & Equipment Information, People - Traffic Safety Information, and Safety City - For Kids.
Crash Safety Testing
No matter what you drive, Larry and Vince, here have probably ridden in it while it was smashed into something as part of the most extensive vehicle crash safety testing program in the world, NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). From this page, you can look up the crash test safety rating of any new or recent car, truck, or SUV. Vehicles are given a one to five star safety rating in frontal crash protection. From the Testing Results Page, you can also look up results on safety equipment, theft ratings and tire quality.
Safety Problems and Recalls
Another great car shopping idea is finding out what, if any, recalls, and
customer complaints have been issued on the cars you're considering. NHTSA's
Web site makes this easy. In the
Recalls
Database, you can find all recalls by make, model, and year. Just
as easily, you can look up a vehicle's reported
Consumer
Complaints,
Safety
Defects, and
Technical
Service Bulletins. All recent makes and models of domestic and foreign
cars, trucks, vans, and SUVs are included in the databases.
Problem Reporting
Got a lemon? Want to tell the government about it? NHTSA's the place. Just
fill out the extensive
Vehicle
Owner's Questionnaire to report vehicle and equipment failure and
safety problems to the NHTSA.
Vehicle Occupant Protection
From crashing all those cars, NHTSA learns how to better protect the people
riding inside. This information is all contained in the
Traffic Safety
and Occupant Protection section of the Web site.
Child Safety Seats
Lots
of people use child seats. Unfortunately, lots of people use them the wrong
way, with tragic results. Worse yet, lots of child safety seats are recalled,
but only after they have been marketed. To find out if a particular child
seat has been recalled, you can access the NHTSA's
Child Seat Recall Database of all seats recalled
from January, 1988 through October 1997. The database is constantly being
updated, so recalls since October '97 may now be available.
NHTSA features a great and free brochure you can download on the correct installation and use of child safety seats. The very detailed and complete brochure is called, "Are You Using it Right?" and you can download it right here. (338K Adobe Acrobat . PDF format)
Air Bags
Scared of your air bags? So are lots of other people. NHTSA offers the truth
about air bags on its
ABCs of Air Bags page. And, especially for drivers,
see the page on
Buckling
Up and Getting Into the Correct Position covering correct
use of driver-side air bags.
Last fall, the government decided vehicle owners could request the installation of an On/Off switch allowing selective deactivation of air bags. But before you can request the On/Off switch, you have to do two things; read this On/Off Switch Information Brochure, and fill out this Air Bag On/Off Switch Installation form.
Other Features
Kids will want to visit
Safety
City -- hosted by Crash Test Dummies, Vince and Larry. Safety City
is loaded with safety-oriented activities, games, and coloring books just
for kids.
NADS - the National Advanced Driving Simulator represents the future of highway safety research. As the most realistic driving simulator ever built, NADS will allow NHTSA researchers to carry out driver behavior and crash avoidance/reconstruction simulations rapidly and without the need for actual crash testing.
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