Consumer Reports (CR), the independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan member organization, welcomes the opportunity to provide comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on its request for comments (RFC) regarding the proposed removal of legacy test procedures and updates to the 10-year roadmap for the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). Founded in 1936, CR works with consumers to create a fair and just marketplace, conducting rigorous product testing and advocating for vehicle safety features that save lives on our nation’s roads.
For decades, NCAP served as a vital market-driven tool to push automakers beyond minimum regulatory baselines and provide consumers with clear, comparative information when preparing to purchase a new vehicle. However, the U.S. NCAP has languished for years, resulting in a system today where nearly every vehicle receives four or five stars, depriving car buyers of any meaningful differentiation. While CR recognizes the agency’s effort to eliminate redundant or unrepeatable test protocols to free up testing resources, we are concerned by the proposed postponements and removals of certain safety initiatives within the updated roadmap. NHTSA explicitly justifies the test removals by asserting that they will free up agency staff and funding for higher-priority safety initiatives, yet the agency is simultaneously proposing postponements across its 10-year roadmap citing resource constraints. If the agency is reclaiming resources by streamlining legacy protocols, those resources should be immediately directed toward accelerating, rather than delaying, modernized crashworthiness tests and advanced crash avoidance evaluations.
To read full comments, click here.