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 »
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.

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.

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.

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.
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.

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.