NHTSA: 1978 crash test still valid in 2005

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will keep the 35 mile-per-hour test it now uses to help consumers evaluate the safety of new automobiles in head-on collisions, despite repeated criticism that the present test is inadequate, outdated, misleading and in need of upgrading, reports Consumer Affairs. A report in April by the Government Accountability Office underscored that too many vehicles receive four and five stars under the current tests. The GAO report also questioned whether the system gives automakers enough incentives to improve vehicle safety. The present testing program began in 1978. NHTSA officials insist that more research is needed to "until we have established the sound science necessary to provide a basis for revising the program." The Leftlane perspective: Perhaps the NHTSA believes 35mph is the greatest speed at which accidents occur, but we don't buy it. Consumers want to know what vehicles are truly the safest, and a test in which all the cars receive the same score is not useful to anyone. (Pictured right is a previous-generation Ford F-150 that did well in a standard front-impact test, but was demolished by a similar IIHS offset crash).