Vehicle Safety Ratings: What is Rollover Resistance

The NHTSA issues vehicle safety ratings annually. They use a five-star rating in the areas of front crash, side barrier, side pole and rollover. Our Annapolis Hyundai team receives the most vehicle safety rating questions about rollover. What does it mean? How does the NHTSA test and rate it?

Rollover Resistance 101

Rollover resistance is a measure of a vehicle's top-heaviness, also called Static Stability Factor. This test determines how likely a particular vehicle is to tip and roll after it performs a severe driving maneuver. The maneuver simulates a sudden swerve in traffic, say, to avoid a collision or to counter loss of traction.

More Stars Mean Safer Vehicles

The rollover resistance crash test isn't even really a crash test. It determines a vehicle's likeliness to topple during evasive driving or challenging road conditions. The other four tests entail the use of crash dummies and simulated collisions. The collisions showcase a vehicle's crashworthiness according to damage that the crash dummies sustain during the collision: head, spine, abdomen, chest and pelvis.