iihs.org

To find IIHS safety ratings for a specific vehicle, use the "Find vehicle ratings by make and model" search tool on the iihs.org homepage. Enter the make and model, and you can also specify a model year. The results show that vehicle's crash test and safety rating information. If you want to see which vehicles have earned IIHS awards, browse the "Award winners" section instead.

Step-by-step: Look Up a Vehicle Rating

1. Go to iihs.org. The rating search sits in the main "Passenger vehicle ratings" area of the homepage.
2. Type the make and model into the "Find vehicle ratings by make and model" field. Suggestions appear as you type, so you can select the exact vehicle rather than guessing at spelling.
3. Add a model year if needed. The search lets you specify a year, which matters because ratings are assigned per model year and can change after a redesign.
4. Open the result to see the crash test and safety rating details for that vehicle.

What to expect: The tool is a lookup, not a comparison engine. You get the rating record for the vehicle you searched, so checking several candidates means repeating the search for each one.

Check Award Winners First If You're Shortlisting

If you haven't picked a vehicle yet, the "Award winners" entry on the homepage is a faster starting point than searching model by model. It lists vehicles that have earned IIHS awards, which you can then cross-check against your shortlist. IIHS updates this list as new results come in — for example, the site announced that the Nissan Kicks joined the ranks of award winners.

Ratings Cover Passenger Vehicles; Commercial Vehicles Have a Separate Entry

The make-and-model search is built for passenger vehicles. Commercial vehicles have their own section on the site, which is the right place to start if you're evaluating a cargo van or heavy-duty truck rather than a passenger car. This distinction is worth knowing because commercial vehicle results are reported separately — the site notes, for instance, that cargo vans and heavy-duty pickups have lagged passenger vehicles in front crash prevention tests.

Beyond Ratings: Context That Helps You Interpret Them

A rating tells you how a vehicle performed in specific tests. The site's research sections explain what those tests measure and where the limits are — for example, material on advanced driver assistance covers front crash prevention, partial automation, and the limitations of crash prevention technologies. Reading that context helps you avoid treating a single rating as a complete picture of a vehicle's safety.

Two other resources may be useful depending on your situation:

• Shopping for safety: a guide for new and used vehicle buyers — general guidance on using safety information during a purchase.
• This year's safest vehicles for teens — a list produced with Consumer Reports aimed at families choosing a vehicle for a young driver.

Quick Reference

One practical note: because ratings are tied to model year, always confirm the year in your search matches the vehicle you're actually considering — a rating for one year doesn't automatically carry over to another.

IIHS supports parent vehicle shopping in four practical ways: a dedicated young-driver safety guide, a child-passenger guide, a general new/used car safety shopping guide, and a yearly list of safest vehicles for teens produced with Consumer Reports. You can combine those guides with the site's make-and-model vehicle ratings and its award-winner lists to build a shortlist. The approach works best when you treat the teen list as a starting point and then check the rating for the specific model year you are considering.

The four resources parents can use

The teen list is described on the site as a collaboration with Consumer Reports intended to "take the guesswork out of finding a used or new vehicle for a young driver." That framing matters: it is a curated starting list, not a substitute for checking the rating of the exact car you find on a lot.

Step-by-step: from guide to a checked shortlist

1. Read the teen guide first. Open "Young driver safety: a guide for parents of teens" and note the criteria it raises. Expected result: a written list of your own priorities (size, crash protection, crash avoidance features, budget).
2. Pull the current teen list. Use "This year's safest vehicles for teens" to generate candidate models. Expected result: a set of named vehicles, often spanning new and used options.
3. Verify each candidate by rating. Go to "Find vehicle ratings by make and model" on the homepage. Type the make and model; the site notes that suggestions appear as you type and that you can specify a year. Expected result: the rating for that specific model year, which may differ from the year on the teen list.
4. Cross-check against award winners. Open the "Award winners" section to see which vehicles earned top-tier recognition. Expected result: confirmation that a candidate is a current award winner, or a signal that it is not.
5. Check crash avoidance coverage. Use the "Advanced driver assistance" research area to understand front crash prevention and the limitations of these technologies. Expected result: realistic expectations about what the safety features on your shortlisted cars will and won't do.

Why the year matters so much

Vehicle ratings are tied to make, model, and year, which is why the search tool explicitly lets you specify a year. A model that appears on a teen list for one year may carry a different rating in another. When you are shopping used, always run the exact year of the car you are looking at rather than the year named on a list.

The site's own reporting reinforces that safety content is not static. A recent item notes that cargo vans and heavy-duty pickups lag behind passenger vehicles in front crash prevention, and another notes that the Nissan Kicks joined the ranks of IIHS award winners. Both examples show why a list from one season should be re-checked against current ratings before you commit.

Matching the vehicle to the driver and passengers

For a teen driver, the teen guide and the Consumer Reports collaboration are the most direct fit. For a family car that will carry younger children, the "Driving with kids" guide addresses child passengers specifically. Many households need both, so it is reasonable to screen a single vehicle against both guides before deciding.

The "Shopping for safety" guide is the general-purpose entry point and is useful when you are comparing new versus used options or when no teen-specific recommendation covers the vehicle you want.

Common sticking points

• Treating the teen list as a rating. It is a recommendation list; the rating for a specific year still needs to be looked up.
• Searching by model only. Add the year, or you may read the wrong rating.
• Assuming safety features equal safety. The advanced driver assistance material is explicit about the limitations of crash prevention technologies, so features should supplement, not replace, crash protection.
• Skipping the guides. The guides set criteria; jumping straight to ratings can leave you comparing cars on the wrong dimensions.

What the site does not tell you

The available site information does not include pricing, insurance cost estimates, or purchasing logistics for any recommended vehicle. Those decisions require separate sources. IIHS describes itself as an independent, nonprofit scientific and educational organization focused on reducing deaths, injuries, and property damage from crashes, so its role here is evaluation and guidance rather than sales.

IIHS organizes its road safety work into ten research areas, each combining crash-risk data, law and enforcement questions, and the effectiveness of vehicle or infrastructure countermeasures. You can reach all of them from the "Key issues in road safety" section of iihs.org via "See all research areas." The coverage is aimed at three audiences at once: consumers choosing vehicles, policymakers weighing rules, and safety professionals designing programs.

The ten research areas

Each area follows a similar logic: define the risk, examine the rules and enforcement that shape it, then test whether a technology or design change actually reduces harm. The advanced driver assistance area, for example, pairs promotion of front crash prevention with explicit attention to the limitations of those systems — a reminder that the same page can tell you what a feature does and where it stops working.

How the research shows up on the site

The homepage surfaces current work alongside the topic list, which is useful for seeing how a research area translates into findings:

• Alcohol and drugs: a Utah law linked to a long-term drop in alcohol-related crashes after the state imposed a stricter blood-alcohol limit.
• Advanced driver assistance: an analysis arguing that sensors for automatic emergency braking and blind spot detection are often blamed for high repair costs, but many other causes exist.
• Large trucks and commercial vehicles: work vehicles, including cargo vans and heavy-duty pickups, lagging behind passenger vehicles in front crash prevention.
• Pedestrians, cyclists, and emerging technology: a finding that Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than human drivers.

These items illustrate the mix you should expect: a law evaluation, a cost explainer, a vehicle-class comparison, and a technology comparison. If you are researching a policy question, the law-focused items are the closest match; if you are shopping, the vehicle-comparison items matter more.

Using the research areas for a decision

For vehicle shopping: start with the vehicle ratings tool on the homepage, where you can search by make and model and specify a model year. Use the research areas to understand why a rating matters — for instance, the front crash prevention and partial automation material explains what the tests measure. IIHS also publishes award winners and a teen-vehicle guide produced with Consumer Reports, which narrows the field before you search individual ratings.

For policy or enforcement reference: the alcohol, distracted driving, motorcycle, seat belt, and speed areas are organized around laws and their observed effects, so they are the natural entry points. Treat any single study as one piece of evidence; the Utah finding, for example, describes a long-term drop associated with a stricter limit rather than proving the law alone caused it.

For safety program design: the red light running and speed areas cover camera programs, signal timing, traffic calming, and intelligent speed assistance — the infrastructure and enforcement side rather than the vehicle side.

Practical notes

• The site is in English, and the research areas are listed as a single index rather than separate menus per audience.
• Headings and excerpts describe the scope of each area; the detailed studies sit behind "See all research areas" and the individual topic pages.
• Dates on featured items (for example, October 2026 and August 2026) indicate when work was posted, so check them if you need the most current findings.
• IIHS describes itself as an independent, nonprofit scientific and educational organization focused on reducing deaths, injuries, and property damage from crashes — useful context when weighing how it frames risk.

IIHS-HLDI is an independent, nonprofit scientific and educational organization focused on reducing deaths, injuries, and property damage from motor vehicle crashes. Its website, iihs.org, is a free public resource for vehicle safety ratings, award lists, crash-avoidance research, and consumer safety guides. It is most useful if you are shopping for a vehicle, researching a road-safety topic, or looking for practical guidance on teen drivers, child passengers, or vehicle selection.

Vehicle Safety Ratings and Awards

The site's most direct consumer tool is its passenger vehicle ratings lookup. You can search by make and model, and the search supports specifying a model year. Suggestions appear as you type, so you can move from a brand name to a specific vehicle and year without browsing long lists.

The site also publishes:

• Award winners — vehicles that have earned IIHS recognition, presented as a standalone list.
• Commercial vehicles — a separate section for work vehicles rather than passenger cars.

These sections are useful when you want to compare candidates before shopping. A rating or award is a starting filter, not a substitute for checking the specific trim and model year you plan to buy.

Road Safety Research by Topic

IIHS organizes its research into key road-safety areas, each with its own page. The topics listed on the site include:

This structure suits readers who want a topic overview rather than a single answer. For example, if you are weighing whether a vehicle's automatic emergency braking is enough, the advanced driver assistance section explains both the technology and its limits.

Consumer Guides

Beyond ratings and research, the site offers guides aimed at specific decisions:

• Young driver safety — a guide for parents of teens.
• Driving with kids — a guide for parents and caregivers.
• Shopping for safety — a guide for new and used vehicle buyers.

The teen-safety guide is produced in collaboration with Consumer Reports, which the site describes as taking guesswork out of finding a used or new vehicle for a young driver. If your task is choosing a first car for a teenager, this guide plus the ratings lookup covers both the vehicle-selection and the safety-context sides.

News and Featured Work

The site's news section highlights recent findings and explains them in plain language. Examples from the page include:

• A Utah law linked to a long-term drop in alcohol-related crashes after the state imposed a stricter blood-alcohol limit.
• An insight piece on the real reasons repair costs are high, noting that sensors for automatic emergency braking and blind spot detection are often blamed but that many other causes exist.
• A report that cargo vans and heavy-duty pickups lag behind passenger vehicles in front crash prevention.
• A note that the Nissan Kicks joined the ranks of IIHS award winners.
• A finding that Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than human drivers.

These items are useful for context, but treat individual news posts as summaries of specific studies rather than general rules.

How to Use the Site

1. Start with the ratings lookup if you have a vehicle in mind. Enter the make and model, add the model year, and review the rating for that configuration.
2. Check the award winners list if you are still narrowing candidates and want a shortlist of recognized vehicles.
3. Open the relevant research topic if you want to understand a safety technology or law before deciding.
4. Use the consumer guides for teen drivers, child passengers, or general new/used vehicle shopping.

A practical check: ratings and awards can differ by model year and trim, so confirm the exact vehicle you are considering rather than relying on a nameplate alone. The site does not present itself as a dealer or seller; it is a research and education resource, so pricing and availability come from elsewhere.

IIHS publishes separate findings on commercial vehicles and on crash avoidance technology, and the two overlap: the institute tests front crash prevention on work vehicles and reports that cargo vans and heavy-duty pickups lag behind passenger vehicles. On iihs.org you can find these results under the Commercial vehicles section and the Advanced driver assistance research area, alongside news items on repair costs and on driverless car crash rates.

What IIHS says about commercial vehicles

The site's Commercial vehicles section sits alongside passenger vehicle ratings and award winners on the homepage. The clearest published finding is that work vehicles falter in crash avoidance tests: cargo vans and heavy-duty pickups trail passenger vehicles in front crash prevention. That comparison is the main takeaway for anyone choosing or specifying a work vehicle — the safety technology that has become common on passenger cars is not performing at the same level on these commercial classes.

The institute's broader commercial vehicle work covers large trucks, including trucking regulations, driver fatigue, braking systems and underride crashes. Those topics appear in the Key issues in road safety list on the homepage.

What IIHS reports on crash avoidance technology

Advanced driver assistance is one of the institute's named research areas. The published scope includes front crash prevention, partial automation, and the limitations of crash prevention technologies. The sensors behind automatic emergency braking and blind spot detection are central to this work — and to the repair cost discussion below.

Two related items on the site add context:

• Repair costs. An Insight piece by Matt Moore argues that sensors for automatic emergency braking, blind spot detection and other crash avoidance systems are often blamed for high repair costs, but many other causes exist. The useful point for a buyer or fleet manager is that sensor cost is only one factor, so repair estimates should not be reduced to "the sensors did it."
• Driverless cars. A news item reports that Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than human drivers. Treat this as a single reported comparison rather than a general claim about automation.

How to use the site for your own question

The make-and-model search accepts a year as well as a vehicle, and suggestions appear as you type.

What to keep in mind

The commercial vehicle finding is a relative one: work vehicles underperform passenger vehicles in front crash prevention tests, which does not mean they lack the systems. For a purchase or fleet decision, check the specific model's results rather than assuming a class-wide outcome, and read the repair cost piece before treating sensor damage as the dominant ownership cost. For teen and family vehicle selection, the site's separate guides — including the young driver safety guide for parents and the shopping guide for new and used buyers — are the more direct route.