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PT Cruiser Crash Tests Results

The following crash tests results for a 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser was gathered by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA). More information on the crash results can be obtained by going to their web site at http://www.nhtsa.org. The results shown here do not depict all of the test done on the PT Cruiser, such as seat belt testing and other tests performed on vehicles by NHTSA. At present, there is no crash data available for the 2002 model PT Cruiser.

Crash Ratings

NHTSA uses a five star rating system for frontal and side crash results with a rating of one star being the worst and five starts being the best. Here is how the PT Cruiser rates in the frontal and side crash testing.

Crash Type	Driver	Passenger	Front Pass	Rear Pass
Frontal	**	****	N/A	N/A
Side	N/A	N/A	****	*****

Here is what the star ratings mean:

Stars	Frontal Rating	Side Rating
5	10% or less chance of injury	5% or less chance of injury
4	11-20% chance of injury	6-10% chance of injury
3	21-35% chance of injury	11-20% chance of injury
2	36-45% chance of injury	21-25% chance of injury
1	46% or greater chance of injury	26% or greater chance of injury

Injury Ratings (from the NHTSA web site)

What Do the Numbers Mean?
The crash test results include three principal data points: Head injury (HIC - range of 0 to 2500) Chest injury (chest G - range of 0 to 150) and leg injury (femur load - range of 0 to 4000 lbs). The lower the numbers are for the head, chest, and the femur load, the lower the potential is for injury in a 35 mph frontal crash. There is also a Thoracic Trauma Index that ranges from 60 to 180 TTI.

How Are the Cars Tested?
All of the vehicles are crashed into a fixed barrier at a speed of 35 mph. The impact is the same as if two identical vehicles, each going 35 mph, collided head-on. Each test vehicle carries two dummies of average human size and weight, one in the driver's seat and one in the right front passenger seat. The dummies contain instruments in their heads, chests, and thighs which measure the forces and impacts that occur during the crash and could cause injury. These measures form the basis for the numbers on the chart.

Note that the vehicle tested did not have ABS brakes or side air bags (standard on the LE models). Here are the results:

Frontal	Head Injury	Chest Deceleration	Femur Load (lbs)
Driver Side	1080 hic	58 g	Left 1573	Right 479
Passenger Side	467 hic	49 g	Left 1830	Right 831

Side	Thoracic Trauma Index	Pelvis Deceleration
Front Occupant	66	48
Rear Occupant	57	76