Attention car shoppers: the government is upgrading its crash test program to offer better information about vehicle safety.
The Bush administration outlined changes Tuesday to the government's safety ratings, which grade new vehicles on a scale of up to five stars.
The new program will continue to assess passenger cars, pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans on the five-star scale but will add an overall safety rating that combines scores from several crash tests.
The new system, which will start in the 2010 model year, also will include new front-end tests and a test in which the vehicle strikes a pole sideways to simulate the wrapping of a vehicle around a tree. Female crash test dummies will be used to represent women and large children.
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