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Rollover
Resistance Ratings Information
Description
of Rollover Resistance Rating
Most rollover crashes occur when a vehicle runs off the road and
is tripped by a ditch, curb, soft soil, or other object causing
it to rollover. These crashes are usually caused by driver behavior
such as speeding or inattention. These are called single vehicle
crashes because the crash did not involve a collision with another
vehicle. More than 10,000 people die each year in all rollover
crashes.
The Rollover
Resistance Rating is an estimate of your risk of rolling over
if you have a single vehicle crash. It does not predict the likelihood
of that crash. The Rollover Resistance Rating essentially measures
vehicle characteristics of center of gravity and track width to
determine how "top-heavy" a vehicle is. The more "top-heavy"
the vehicle, the more likely it is to roll over. The lowest rated
vehicles (1-star) are at least four times more likely to roll
over than the highest rated vehicles (5-stars).
The Rollover
Resistance Ratings of vehicles were compared to 220,000 actual
single vehicle crashes, and the ratings were found to relate very
closely to the real-world rollover experience of vehicles.
While the
Rollover Resistance Rating does not directly predict the risk
of injury or death, keep in mind that rollovers have a higher
fatality rate than other kinds of crashes. Remember: Even the
highest rated vehicle can rollover, but you can reduce your chance
of being killed in a rollover by about 75% just by wearing your
seat belt.
Here are the Rollover Resistance Ratings:
In A Single
Vehicle Crash, a vehicle with a rating of:
Five
Stars - Has a risk of rollover of less than 10 percent
Four Stars - Has a risk of rollover between 10 percent
and 20 percent
Three Stars - Has a risk of rollover between 20 percent
and 30 percent
Two Stars - Has a risk of rollover between 30 percent
and 40 percent
One Star - Has a risk of rollover greater than 40 percent
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