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NCAP Advertising Guidelines
To promote accurate characterization and comparison of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's NCAP test results, the agency has released the following guidelines for manufacturers and advertising agencies. These guidelines apply to print, Web, TV, and radio advertisements, as well as press releases and various other consumer-based marketing communications.
See "Disclaimer Requirement" for required advertising information on all advertisements. Click on any of the links below for more information on a particular topic: Frontal crash NCAP stars for the driver seating position are to be listed separately from frontal crash NCAP stars for the (right front) passenger seating position. The star ratings from the two front seating positions cannot be added together (e.g., it is not permissible to add a five-star rating for the driver seating position with a (right front) passenger five-star rating for an "overall" 10-star frontal crash rating). If the frontal crash star rating for the driver seating position is to be shown, results for the right front passenger must also be shown, and vice versa. For vehicles receiving five stars in frontal crash for both driver and right front passenger positions: manufacturers may consolidate the two separate five-star ratings into one five-star rating and use a phrase similar to the following: "receiving the highest government frontal crash safety rating" or as having a "five-star rating for frontal crash." NHTSA strongly discourages the use of terms such as "double" five-star rating when a vehicle has received a five-star rating for both the driver and the right front passenger seating positions. Side NCAP stars for the front seating position are to be listed separately from the side stars for the rear seating position. The side star ratings for the front and rear seating positions cannot be added together (e.g., it is not permissible to add a five-star rating for the front seating position to a rear passenger five-star rating for an "overall" 10-star side crash rating). If the side star rating for the front seating position is to be shown, results for the rear seating position must also be shown, and vice versa. For vehicles receiving five stars in side-impact for both front and rear seating positions: manufacturers may consolidate the two separate five-star ratings into one five-star rating and use a phrase similar to the following: "receiving the highest government side safety rating" or as having a "five-star rating for side safety." NHTSA strongly discourages the use of terms such as "double" five-star rating when a vehicle has received a five-star rating for both front and rear seating positions. For those vehicles tested with side air bags (SABs), a phrase similar to "model tested with optional/standard side air bags (SABs)" must appear, at a minimum, in the disclaimer. Manufacturers may place the phrase in the body of the advertisement or as part of a voiceover. Frontal and Side Crash Ratings List frontal NCAP stars separately from side NCAP stars. Star ratings from the two tests cannot be added together (e.g., it is not permissible to add a five-star frontal rating (driver seating position) with a five-star side rating (front seating position) for an "overall" 10-star driver seating position crash rating). There is no "overall" NCAP vehicle score. NCAP side star ratings are not to be combined with the frontal crash star ratings to develop an "overall" vehicle score (e.g., it is not permissible to add the five-star ratings for both frontal and side tests across any combination of seating positions to arrive at an "overall" vehicle rating based on 10, 15, or 20 stars). For vehicles receiving five stars in all seating positions for both frontal and side crash, manufacturers may consolidate the four separate five-star ratings into one five-star rating and use a phrase in advertisements similar to the following: "receiving the highest government crash test ratings" or as having a "five-star crash safety rating." NHTSA strongly discourages the use of terms such as "quadruple" five-star rating when a vehicle has received a five-star rating across all four seating positions. What Is "Five-Star Safety" and When to Use It Use of the term "five-star safety" applies only to those vehicles receiving a five-star rating for all four (driver/right front passenger and rear passenger) seating positions and rollover resistance . In advertisements, “five-star safety†may be used only when referring to a vehicle that has met these specific criteria. In the case where a vehicle does not meet the five-star rating in all four seating positions and rollover, advertisers may use, "five-star crash rating". It is recommended to identify which seating positions earned the five-star rating so as to avoid confusion or misleading the consumer to believe that the vehicle received the five-stars in all 4 seating positions and rollover. "Five-Star" and "5-Star" may be used interchangeably. NHTSA discourages the use of language referring to "doubling," "tripling" or "quadrupling" of a star rating as doing so implies the vehicle scored a star rating two, three, or four times that of another five-star vehicle, and therefore can be misleading to consumers. There is no "overall" NCAP vehicle score. NHTSA discourages the use of potentially misleading words such as "perfect" or "flawless" to describe the star rating received by the vehicle. More acceptable phrases to describe a vehicle receiving a five-star rating would include phrases such as "highest" or "maximum" crash test rating or "top" safety scores. NHTSA also discourages the use of phrases placed in certain contexts that imply NHTSA has a new overall star rating system. For example, "Vehicle ABC has earned the government's highest rating five-stars all around." NHTSA does not have a five-star all-around rating. NHTSA expects manufacturers to use terminology for seating positions that is consistent with NHTSA NCAP seating terminology. NHTSA considers the use of the term "occupant" as misleading, since it is unclear whether the term refers to the driver or passenger. Manufacturers must, therefore, use the terms bolded in the paragraph below and not the term "occupant". Seating positions for frontal crash results are typically referred to as driver and (right front) passenger seating positions. Seating positions for side crash results are typically referred to as front and rear (passenger) seating positions. The words in parentheses can be used to provide additional clarity to the consumer. Advertisements that competitively compare frontal crash NCAP safety ratings of two or more vehicles are only permissible if the vehicles being compared are within 500 pounds of each other. Competitive comparisons are not to be implied between vehicles where the difference in weight exceeds 500 pounds. Vehicle comparisons of frontal crash results can be made across weight categories (e.g., comparing a heavy passenger car to a medium passenger car) as long as the 500 pound comparison limit is not exceeded. Safety concerns used by NHTSA must be clearly stated and prominently displayed directly beneath, or after, the star rating in the body of the advertisement. Safety concerns are not to be included as part of the disclaimer. Manufacturers who make a mid-model year running change to a vehicle must indicate in the disclaimer that the revised star rating applies only to vehicles manufactured on or after the date of the running change. The use of voiceovers during TV commercials must be consistent with the display of the NCAP star rating in use. For example, a commercial with a superimposed display of a five-star frontal crash graphic midway through the spot and a voiceover at the end of the spot stating, "Vehicle XYZ Five-star safety." would be misleading. Each year manufacturers provide NHTSA with a list of vehicles they have certified as "corporate twins." If the vehicle manufacturer defines a vehicle as being a "corporate twin" of another vehicle, then the appropriate frontal, side or rollover star ratings may apply to all those vehicles defined as corporate twins of one another. When a vehicle's NCAP star ratings/test scores are released and it has any corporate twins, that vehicle's star ratings/test scores and all of its twins will be updated simultaneously on the safercar.gov Web site with the appropriate NCAP star ratings/test scores. Each advertisement utilizing the NCAP star ratings is required to have one of the following phrase(s) in the disclaimer, as applicable: "Government star ratings are part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) New Car Assessment Program ( www.safercar.gov )." OR "Star ratings are part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Safercar.gov program ( www.safercar.gov )" For advertisements on the Web, the disclaimer may appear as a pop-up during a mouse-over. For those vehicles tested with side-impact air bags (SABs), a phrase similar to "Model tested with optional/standard side-impact air bags (SABs)" must appear, at a minimum, in the disclaimer. Manufacturers may place the phrase in the body of the advertisement or as part of a voiceover. Advertisers are not permitted to use quotes from the NHTSA Administrator or any other federal employee. Only five star ratings and the disclaimers are allowed to be used. NHTSA will not approve the use of any direct quotations. The NHTSA logo may be used in an advertisement (print, Web or TV) along with NCAP star ratings (per the guidelines outlined in this document), provided the logo is displayed in immediate proximity to the star rating so as to indicate NHTSA's association with the advertisement is limited to the star ratings and not to the contents of the entire advertisement. Any advertisement using the NHTSA logo must be submitted in advance for approval. Advertisements that do not use the NHTSA logo do not need to be submitted for approval. Vector based images of NHTSA's logo are available HERE. Click on the Logos folder. Look for the Adobe Illustrator EPS file named NHTSA.eps. The logo is shown below and the preferred logo color is Pantone 287. Crash Test Photos and Video Clips Vehicle crash test photos and video clips may be used in an advertisement to supplement vehicle safety features or crash test ratings. NHTSA's interactive vehicle crash test database provides many options for finding vehicle specific test photos and video clips. In most cases, running a query by vehicle parameters such as make, model, and year will produce the best results. Entering test query criteria should yield photos, videos, and reports for the particular vehicle searched. If you have trouble producing results, try broadening your search criteria (e.g. use an earlier model year for the intended vehicle since all models are not tested yearly). Please note that the database only includes multimedia for crash tests conducted in recent years. This database can be accessed by visiting www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/database/nrd-11/veh_db.html. For questions regarding these procedures, please contact Johanna Lowrie in NHTSA's Office of Crashworthiness Standards. Phone: (202) 366-5269. E-mail: Johanna.Lowrie@dot.gov . Test results cannot be used in an advertisement until they are posted to Safercar.gov. For questions regarding the status of a vehicle's test report, please contact Johanna Lowrie in NHTSA's Office of Crashworthiness Standards. Phone: (202) 366-5269. E-mail: Johanna.Lowrie@dot.gov . Each advertisement or TV spot that will incorporate the NHTSA logo with the star ratings must be submitted to NHTSA's Office of Communications and Consumer Information with an expected turnaround time of 1-2 days (weekends excluded). Manufacturers and their advertising firms may still voluntarily submit any advertisement if they wish to have NHTSA ensure they are acting in accordance with these guidelines. For questions regarding these guidelines or to submit materials for review, please contact Mike Joyce in NHTSA's Office of Communications and Consumer Information. Phone: (202) 366-5600 . Email: Mike.Joyce@dot.gov . Preferred file formats for submission of materials are as follows: For print advertisements : screen resolution PDF's. For radio spots : script in MS Word or text file format. For television spots : VHS, CD-ROM or electronic file (Media Player or QuickTime compatible). For Web advertisements : HTML or flash type file or link to an externally accessible Web site. |