Important Things You Don’t Know About Automotive Testing
Every year, auto enthusiasts drool at the prospect of seeing what new exciting and innovative designs that carmakers will unveil out there on the car show circuit. Those same autophiles are often disappointed when these cutting-edge concepts still haven't made it to the auto dealership's showroom floor a few years later.
At Service King Babcock in San Antonio, TX we want our blog readers to know that before any new vehicle model can ever go out on sale to the public, it must first go through a battery of testing to make sure that it'll be safe, reliable and somewhat reasonably in tune with the demands of the car-owning public.
The government mandates some of this testing, while other major components of it are devised by the car manufacturers themselves in an effort to make certain that they meet specific standards for performance, fuel economy and comfort, just to name a few.
The popular conception of vehicle testing is fairly narrow. Most consumers are very familiar with the slow-motion crash-test videos that companies run in TV commercials to advertise their cars' overall safety.
But car testing is much more than that. There are multiple aspects of it that you might find quite surprising, slightly quirky or even downright strange. It's with these not-so-well-known parts of vehicle testing in mind that we offer you these things you likely don’t know about car testing.
First off, you should know that there are actually two separate bodies that conduct crash testing to determine a vehicle safety rating. The well-known National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been responsible for mandating many of the safety features that many of us often take for granted, including things such as seat belts and padded dashboards, for example. The other organization that commits tests is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a highly-regarded organization supported by all of the major auto insurance firms.
The two testing organizations actually use two different rating criteria, as well as having slightly different crash test procedures.
The NHTSA uses its star system that we're all aware of from TV car commercials. The frontal crash ratings, for example, go from the worst ratings, which are one-star (46% or higher likelihood of serious injury in the case of a collision), to the best ratings, which are five-stars (chances of being seriously injured in a collision are just 10% or less).
The IIHS simply ranks cars, vans, SUVs and trucks as Poor, Marginal, Acceptable or Good.
As one final note, car testers cover a lot of ground, from the ride and handling to interior rattling to how well the heating and air systems work. As a consumer, you can rely on these tests because of all of the work that goes into devising them.
Service King Babcock in San Antonio, TX 78240
Sources: NHTSA and IIHS
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