DATA STUDY
Car brands ranked by average safety score
Which makes average the highest NHTSA Safety Index across their crash-tested lineups.
MotorCaliber scored the crash-tested lineups of every car make in its catalog on the 0 to 100 NHTSA Safety Index. Ranking makes with at least three scored models by their average, Polestar comes out highest at 100, against a fleet average of 85. The top 25 of 30 qualifying makes are below.
| Make | Avg NHTSA Safety Index | Models scored | 5-star models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polestar | 100/100 | 4 | 4 |
| Mazda | 92/100 | 49 | 48 |
| Volvo | 92/100 | 73 | 73 |
| Acura | 91/100 | 43 | 38 |
| Lexus | 91/100 | 116 | 78 |
| Subaru | 91/100 | 71 | 55 |
| Tesla | 91/100 | 49 | 30 |
| Audi | 90/100 | 175 | 86 |
| Buick | 90/100 | 32 | 25 |
| Genesis | 89/100 | 23 | 22 |
| Cadillac | 88/100 | 66 | 34 |
| Infiniti | 88/100 | 32 | 14 |
| Honda | 87/100 | 83 | 79 |
| Mitsubishi | 86/100 | 28 | 10 |
| Toyota | 86/100 | 131 | 85 |
| Nissan | 85/100 | 105 | 62 |
| Hyundai | 84/100 | 88 | 57 |
| Chrysler | 84/100 | 25 | 19 |
| Lincoln | 84/100 | 41 | 34 |
| Volkswagen | 84/100 | 64 | 53 |
| Chevrolet | 83/100 | 142 | 80 |
| Kia | 83/100 | 82 | 54 |
| GMC | 81/100 | 67 | 26 |
| BMW | 81/100 | 32 | 18 |
| Mini | 81/100 | 8 | 0 |
How we compiled this: for each make we averaged the NHTSA Safety Index across its crash-tested model years. Makes with fewer than three scored models are excluded to avoid small-sample noise. Scores come from federal NHTSA crash tests, recalls, and complaints, on our published formula.