NHTSA picks 2027 cars for crash, pedestrian and driver-assist tests

NHTSA picks 2027 cars for crash, pedestrian and driver-assist tests

15 October 2026: The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has named the model year 2027 vehicles it will test for its New Car Assessment Program 5-Star Safety Ratings: 23 for crash tests, 18 under its new pedestrian protection assessment and 10 for checks of five advanced driver assistance systems. NHTSA says the crash ratings will cover 87% of all new vehicles.

Not yet independently verified. These are the vehicles chosen for testing, not results; NHTSA publishes ratings only once testing and data checks are complete. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

The three test programmes

• Crash safety: 23 vehicles get frontal, side and rollover tests.
• Pedestrian protection: 18 vehicles go through the agency's new pedestrian protection assessment, which it first reported results from in September.
• Driver assistance: 10 vehicles are tested on automatic emergency braking, pedestrian automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assist, blind spot warning and blind spot intervention.

The ten selected for driver-assistance testing are the BMW X5, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Hyundai Elantra, Jeep Cherokee, Kia Telluride, Lexus NX 350h, Rivian R2, Tesla Model 3, Toyota Sienna Hybrid and Volkswagen Atlas.

The electric and software-heavy cars on the lists

Several of the most software-defined cars on sale are in the programme. The Tesla Model 3 appears on all three lists. The Kia EV3, a compact electric SUV, is in both the crash and pedestrian groups, and the Rivian R2, Rivian's new smaller SUV, is tested for driver assistance. The crash list also includes the Slate pickup, the Nissan Rogue e-Power and the Lexus NX 350h, and the pedestrian list adds the Toyota Prius, Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, Audi Q5 and Ford Explorer among others.

"For more than 30 years, NHTSA's 5-Star Safety Ratings have helped families choose the vehicle that's right for them," said NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison, adding that the programme "rewards automakers who continuously innovate to improve safety by adding lifesaving technologies to their vehicles."

What it means for fleets and buyers

Ratings will appear on NHTSA.gov/Ratings once testing and quality control of the data are finished, and the crash ratings also go on new-car window stickers. For fleet managers choosing 2027 vehicles, the driver-assistance results will be the first standardised US government comparison of how these systems behave on the same tests, and they are worth waiting for before committing to large orders of the ten models above. In Europe, Euro NCAP's results serve the same purpose; our Euro NCAP coverage tracks its latest scores.

Related on TrustList:

• IIHS rates work vans and heavy pickups Poor on crash avoidance
• BMW iX3 and ZEEKR 7GT take Euro NCAP's first five stars under new rules
• Euro NCAP finds buttons returning as XPENG X9 scores 20% on controls

Sources

• NHTSA: Model year 2027 vehicle testing list for 5-Star Safety Ratings, 15 October 2026