2013 Ford Taurus, Explorer Get Highest Safety Marks, But Not Ford Escape

 According to khabarkhodro ،The 2013 Ford Taurus and Explorer, along with the 2013 Lincoln MKS, earned top five-star overall safety ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday. But the 2013 Ford Escape and Ford F-150 fell short of the top rating.

The redesigned 2013 Escape and upgraded F-150 earned four-star overall safety ratings, with the F-150 4x4 earning a three-star rollover rating, according to test results posted on Safercar.gov.

One star is the lowest rating, five stars is the highest.

"More stars equal safer cars," said NHTSA on the Safercar.gov Web site.

The 2013 Escape showed improvement over the 2012 Ford Escape, which earned a three-star overall safety rating from NHTSA.

 The redesigned 2013 Ford Fusion has not yet been rated by NHTSA.

Federal safety regulators are just beginning to publish the results of vehicle crash tests. Vehicles are rated for their performance in frontal and side-impact crash tests and resistance to rollover.

The safety ratings system is also called the New Car Assessment Program or NCAP. It is designed to provide consumers with information about crash protection and rollover safety of new vehicles "beyond what is required by statute."

NHTSA does not rate every vehicle sold in the U.S. It estimates that about 60 percent of the light vehicle fleet in the U.S. is rated.