Car Safety Ratings Based on Real Life

The Safest Cars

See which models scored top marks in real-world crashes.
Browse Our “A” Lists »

Auto Grades Explained

What’s the difference between an A- and C+ safety rating?
Learn More »

How Safe is Your Car?

Before you hit the road, use our tool to check its rating.
Get Your Grade »

What Real People Say About Auto Grades

My old car's less-than-stellar Auto Professor rating was so compelling (and just a little shocking!) that it is the entire reason I purchased a new car. My 2011 Prius received a C rating, and with two little kids in the backseat, that certainly wasn't good enough. With the help of The Auto Professor as a research tool, I waded through the myriad of options, and chose a 2016 Audi Q5 (A grade!), and I'm thrilled with my choice. Whether you're buying a new car, or choosing the right used car, The Auto Professor provides critical, possibly life-saving safety data that just isn't available anywhere else. The more you know!
Laine C. Female Age 31-50, Alameda, CA
My twenty year old daughter was rear ended in a 08 Civic, at college in Orange about a month ago, while stopped behind a cop who had stopped for no reason. Distracted driver, driving at high speed slammed her into the cop car. She's fine thank God. Civic is totaled. Of note the Honda has a steep slopping nose and I'm so thankful that the Honda hood was not pushed under the cop SUV rear end. The article that Ms Hubele is featured in, (SanTan Sun News), arrived as I'm looking for a replacement for the Civic. We had been planning a CRV but now after your VERY exciting website tool, I feel the decision will change. Anyhow THANK YOU for your work, your diligence and your desire to help us to keep all of our loved ones safe. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
J. T. Male Age 31-50, Chandler, AZ
Good approach. Great work. I intend to share this broadly and compare and contrast with other evaluation systems. I wish you great success with this work saving lives. You are making a difference. Thank you.
J. W. Male, Age 51+, Recipient of AZ National Safety Council Distinguished Service to Safety Award
You can have an inkling that something might not be the safest, but that’s different than knowing it. I loved my old Civic, and yeah, it was feeling a little shaky as it aged but it was still running great. Then I looked up the Auto Grade, and realized that it only had a C-…both overall and for a woman my age. That brought it home and made me see that it really was time to graduate from my old college car!
Jenny B. Female Age 31-50, Seattle, WA
It always struck me as odd that something as small as a Mini Cooper could get 4 or 5 stars, but it never occurred to me to check the fine print. I think it’s great that you don’t need fine print to use Auto Grades – what you see is what you get. Plus, now that The Auto Professor has taught me how to interpret the star ratings, I feel confident that I can use all the safety information at hand to choose my next car.
Brian R. Male Age 23 - 30, Scottsdale, AZ
The Auto Professor website provided me with invaluable information about the best car match for me, personally. By browsing through the Auto Grades and Car Safety Guide, I learned about things that I didn’t even know I should be concerned about.
Cynthia M. Female Age 51+, Marblehead, MA
Safety is one of my top concerns when shopping for a car. When I learned about how Auto Grades provide safety ratings using actual real life crashes, I felt more certain about the car’s safety and its ability to protect my family. I was able to compare the Auto Grade of my existing car to cars I was looking to purchase, and it was clear that it was time to trade-in my existing car for a safer one.
Donna D. Female Age 31 - 50, Chandler, AZ
As a parent, spouse, and woman, I appreciate that The Auto Professor empowers me to make informed decisions about the right car for my needs. I was shocked to learn about the limitations of the star method, and I value the way The Auto Professor has reinvigorated the consumer-driven (no pun intended) conversation around shaping the automotive industry into its safest form. Thank you for the work you do. I recommend you to anyone and everyone I know considering buying a new car.
Shelley R. Eugene, OR
My husband and I are both over 50 and had just discussed getting a car (larger sedan and suv were what we were thinking) when I heard about you and your work so I headed over to your website and was impressed with what I learned.
R. L. Metro Phoenix
I appreciate the accurate statistics behind the information and the easy access to information provided by the Auto Professor's Auto Grades for determining the safety of a car. And her rating was proven true when my VW Golf was totaled and I walked away. Many smaller cars wouldn't have allowed me to survive that bad a crash. It makes sense to trust real stats over crash-test dummy infor when determining which car to buy. And I bought another Golf because it measures up well on the Auto Professor's Grading system.
Maria M. Female Age 51+, Mesa, AZ

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When Do I Use Auto Grades?

You’re Thinking About Buying a New Car

But maybe you’re not sure what you want. Browse our “A” Lists to see our top safety picks.

BROWSE "A" LISTS

You’ve Narrowed Down Your Top Choices

Now it’s time to compare your top makes and models in our Comparison Tool to help make the final decision.

TRY COMPARISON TOOL

You’ve Found the Car of Your Dreams

Now it’s time to make sure it’s safe. Use our Auto Grade Search tool to see our ratings for each member of your family. We are the only safety rating system personalized for the ones you love.

GET THE AUTO GRADE

You’re Worried About the Safety of Your Loved Ones

You’re worried about your teen or parent’s safety while they are on the road. Check out our Car Safety Guide for resources and tips for teens and older drivers.

BROWSE CAR SAFETY GUIDE

Why are Auto Grades Free? Who is Paying for This?

The Auto Professor is dedicated to reporting the real safety record of cars and provides the funding to bring you this information.

We believe that consumers deserve to know more about the cars they drive.
We are experts at unlocking real crash data.
We freely share with car buyers our knowledge – real, unbiased information.
We empower car buyers with this information to make their decisions.
We are fueled by love and driven by conviction.
Together, we want to create a world where everyone walks away from a crash.

WHY TRUST US?

5-Star Safety Rating Doesn’t Equal Safest

You might assume that when you buy a 5-star safety rated or Top Pick Safety vehicle, you have the safest car. Unfortunately, that’s a myth!

Auto Grades addresses the two biggest shortcomings of the traditional rating systems. First, other car safety ratings only use crash tests. These crash tests are performed in controlled laboratories and don’t reflect what happens in the real world. Our roads are chaotic and not controlled like a laboratory. We share the roads with bad drivers making poor choices. That puts all of us at risk.

Second, these crash tests are designed for one specific purpose. So that you can compare similar car performance. Using the traditional rating systems, you can compare the rating of one mid-size sedan to the rating of another mid-size sedan, but not to a cross-over or an SUV.

So if you are considering a midsize SUV and a compact SUV, you cannot compare their ratings using the traditional systems. But, with Auto Grades, you can!

We created Auto Grades to address the flaws in the existing car safety ratings. Plus, we wanted to give you real, personal information about how well cars protect drivers on the road. Learn more about how Auto Grades compares to the other car safety rating systems.