Stellantis dominates, Volvo earns five-star safety rating

Jeep owners filed more than 1,487 complaints per vehicle, far more than any other brand

A new study reveals which car brands have dominated the U.S. safety ratings game over the past decade, revealing which automakers prioritize making sure their vehicles are as safe as possible, or at least safe enough to pass standardized testing.

While the results look reassuring, it’s worth asking: How much weight should we actually give these 5-star ratings when it comes to real-world performance? After all, these are not crash reports of actual accidents, but controlled evaluations under ideal conditions.

Read: IIHS study finds 2-3 times more pedestrians killed in crashes involving tall SUVs and pickups than regular vehicles

The research was conducted by confuseData from the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), which rates vehicle safety based on crash test performance, rollover resistance and the effectiveness of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), was analyzed.

It identified Volvo, Subaru, Tesla, Genesis and Polestar as safety test (percentage) winners. Every new model released by these brands in the past decade has received a five-star rating. There’s no denying that this is impressive on paper, but the reality is much more complex.

First, the tests are designed around specific crash scenarios, which means perfect scores don’t necessarily guarantee the same level of protection in a chaotic highway pileup or a dimly lit country road. Also, the number of models tested is important – there’s a significant difference between evaluating three cars and testing more than 100 cars from a single brand.

Volvo and Subaru: leaders in the lab

Volvo leads the way, with 76 models achieving NCAP 5-star ratings over the past decade. Subaru followed with 72 units, and Tesla followed with 45 units. Joining these brands are Genesis and Polestar. Both companies are new entrants to the market and therefore haven’t released that many cars yet. Despite this, every aircraft about to be launched has received the highest safety ratings.

Other top-performing cars in the study (especially considering the number of cars compared to Polestar and Genesis) include Buick, with 98.31% of its cars receiving a 5-star rating, followed by Acura (98.18%), Honda (94.59%) ), Mazda is 92.73%, and BMW is 91.30%. On the other hand, the four brands Mini, Fiat, Smart and Suzuki failed to deliver any five-star cars during the same period.

Brand with the most five-star cars

The same study gives us some other interesting industry trends. For example, the proportion of cars produced in 2024 receiving a five-star safety rating is the highest on record. This follows a slight drop in average safety ratings in 2022, which was thought to be caused by automakers using lower quality parts and microchips amid industry-wide shortages.

What to do if a customer complains?

However, safety ratings only tell part of the story. Customer complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provide a more solid perspective on how these vehicles perform outside the lab.

Volvo and Genesis also performed well here, with the fewest complaints per vehicle, receiving an average of 47.20 complaints to NHTSA per vehicle launched. Other top-performing brands include Polestar, Lexus, Audi, Mitsubishi, Smart, Lincoln, Cadillac and Acura.

On the other hand, Jeep owners are asking for astronomical amounts of money 1,487.83 complaints per vehiclemaking it the worst brand in this metric by a wide margin. Dodge, Chrysler and Ram also fared poorly, with hundreds of complaints per vehicle.

Customer complaint data adds nuance to conversations about safety. While high safety ratings are important, cars with ongoing technical issues, build quality issues, or ineffective ADAS systems can still create dangerous situations on the road. For example, Tesla has a perfect 5-star NCAP record, but the reality is less than ideal. 391.11 complaints per vehicle.

NHTSA Brands with the Least Complaints

Lead Image IIHS