How Auto Grades Factor in Outside Elements and Go Beyond a Car Crash Test

In this video, Alexa and Norma talk about how insufficient a car crash test is. Auto Grades take more than that in to consideration.

Alexa: So, as a driver we love to travel, take the road trips. And as we cross state lines, we get a little bit uneasy and unfortunately, this leads to accidents. How is that taken into consideration when driving in different environments and how does that update apply to your grades?

Norma: Excellent question and it’s come up more than once. Our grades are based on thousands and thousands of fatal crashes. And so you can think of it as the grade is essentially the average across all types of roads and all types of environments. So, if you’re looking for something that’s representative of the country, then the Auto Grades is the only way to go. The rating systems that are in laboratories are very, very controlled. And so they don’t have the influence of weather and types of roads, etc. And what we tried to do is we try to let the data speak for itself. And when people ask me, “Shouldn’t you control for the road?” “Shouldn’t you control for the weather?” My response is, “The data is as driven.” So think about the Auto Grades are as driven.

To know more about where Auto Grades come from and what they mean, please continue reading here.