How to Read NHTSA Safety Ratings for a Used Car

• NHTSA publishes ratings for specific vehicle configurations. A result for one cab or body style may not apply to another.
• Two configurations can share the same category stars and still have different overall scores.
• The rollover percentage gives more detail than the star rating alone. It describes NHTSA's rollover assessment, not the chance that an owner will roll the car.
• Check a missing rating on NHTSA's site before treating it as a test result.

Regular Cab has 5 stars overall; Crew Cab has 4. All four variants have 4 frontal, 5 side and 4 rollover stars. Rollover possibility is 19.1% for 2WD and 19.8% for 4WD. Those category stars alone cannot explain the difference in overall scores.

• Overall: NHTSA's combined score for frontal, side and rollover performance.
• Frontal: The frontal crash rating, with driver and front-passenger results available in the underlying record.
• Side: The side-impact rating, with further results available in NHTSA's record.
• Rollover: A rating of rollover resistance, with a published rollover-possibility percentage.

The same need to match configurations applies to cars. The 2018 Honda Civic 2-door has 5 overall, 4 frontal, 5 side and 5 rollover stars, with a 9.3% rollover possibility. The 4-door sedan and 5-door hatchback each have 5 stars in every category and a 9.5% rollover possibility. All three share the overall score, but their frontal results differ.

NHTSA's stars summarize test results on a scale of 1 to 5. They do not measure how often a used car will need repairs or describe its condition after years of use. Check the exact variant and read any additional notes on NHTSA's rating page.

1. Identify the configuration. Confirm the body or cab style and drivetrain from the car's documents before choosing a rating.
2. Open the NHTSA record. Use NHTSA's ratings lookup and match its vehicle description. Read each category and any safety concern notes.
3. Check comparison limits. NHTSA limits frontal and overall comparisons by vehicle class and weight. Follow the guidance on its ratings page when comparing different models.
4. Check the rest of the record. Review recalls and service history, and arrange an inspection. Our complaint-count guide explains what owner reports can add.

NHTSA does not rate every configuration. Its "Not Rated" label means the vehicle was not tested for a particular crash condition; a blank in a third-party report may also reflect a data gap. The API index checked for this guide covered model years 1990 through 2026. That range does not mean every vehicle was tested or that ratings from different periods are directly comparable. The examples here show published results, not an assessment of a particular used car.

The example ratings were checked on 2026-08-07: four Regular Cab and Crew Cab variants of the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, plus three body styles of the 2018 Honda Civic. The figures come from NHTSA's Safety Ratings API and are reproduced as published. CarTold reports variants separately rather than averaging their scores.

NHTSA's ratings guide explains the categories, comparison limits and meaning of "Not Rated."

• 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 report
• Chevrolet Silverado 1500 model years
• How to use complaint counts
• How CarTold's reports work
• Data sources