U.S. seeks to overhaul vehicle safety ratings

The government wants to change its car safety ratings by strengthening crash tests and promoting collision avoidance technology that automakers are adopting, Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said Monday.

The agency’s proposal calls for improving frontal crash tests so that they would measure how a person’s upper legs are affected in a collision. The new approach would also assess how side air bags protect a driver’s head.

The results of both tests would be combined into a single rating, which transportation planners said would make it easier for car buyers to better understand how vehicles performed on key safety measurements.

“You cannot use the information if you cannot understand it or it is not readily available,” Peters said.

The Transportation Department also said it wanted to promote crash avoidance technologies such as electronic stability control systems, which are designed to adjust braking and steering in certain situations to help prevent rollover.

Regulators would add a letter designation to crash ratings that are posted on vehicle window stickers for cars that have advanced safety technologies.

Congress has pressed regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to update the crash rating system, a five-star quality scale.

Safety and consumer groups also have complained it is too vague.