NHTSA has released its first-ever pedestrian-protection test results for model-year 2027 vehicles, adding a major new dimension to America's familiar 5-Star Safety Ratings program.
In the first published round, 102 vehicle models from 10 manufacturers met NHTSA's new pedestrian-protection performance criteria.
The assessment does something conventional occupant crash ratings do not: it looks at how the front structure of a vehicle may affect a pedestrian who is actually struck.
NHTSA evaluates injury risk to the head, upper-leg or hip area, lower legs and knees using specially designed impact devices against areas such as the hood, windshield region, hood leading edge and front bumper.
| First results announced | September 18, 2026 |
| Model year highlighted | 2027 |
| Models meeting criteria in first round | 102 |
| Manufacturers represented | 10 |
| Maximum pedestrian score | 36 points |
| Credit threshold | 21.6 points / 60% |
| Consumer display | Passed, Failed, Pending or Not Submitted |
| Program | NHTSA New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) |
What Has NHTSA Changed?
NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program has traditionally been best known for its frontal, side-impact and rollover safety information.
Those evaluations primarily help shoppers understand how well a vehicle protects the people inside it.
The new pedestrian assessment expands that safety picture by examining what can happen to a person outside the vehicle when a collision occurs.
For model-year 2027 vehicles, NHTSA's published safety information can now include three distinct areas:
- Crashworthiness for occupants — frontal, side and rollover performance.
- Crashworthiness pedestrian protection — how the vehicle's physical front-end design performs in pedestrian impact testing.
- Crash-avoidance technology — systems such as automatic emergency braking, pedestrian AEB, lane-keeping assistance and blind-spot technology.
Why Is Pedestrian Protection Being Added?
Pedestrians remain one of the most vulnerable groups on U.S. roads.
NHTSA reports that 7,080 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in 2024, with more than 71,000 pedestrians injured nationwide.
That gives regulators and automakers another reason to look beyond the traditional question of how well a car protects its own occupants.
The shape and construction of a hood, bumper and surrounding front-end components can influence the forces transferred to a pedestrian during an impact.
NHTSA says designs that perform well can use strategies such as energy absorption, reducing hard contact points and creating front-end geometry intended to reduce injury risk.
How Does the NHTSA Pedestrian Test Work?
NHTSA's methodology is largely based on pedestrian testing techniques developed by Euro NCAP, adapted for the U.S. New Car Assessment Program.
The agency uses four physical test devices across three broad impact categories.
1. Adult and Child Headform Tests
Special impactors representing the mass characteristics of adult and child heads are launched into marked points around the hood and windshield area.
The goal is to estimate the risk of serious head injury at different locations across the front portion of the vehicle.
NHTSA uses the Head Injury Criterion, or HIC, as part of this evaluation.
2. Upper-Leg Impact Test
An upper-leg impactor is directed at the leading edge of the hood.
This evaluates forces and bending loads that could affect a pedestrian's upper legs and hip region during an impact.
3. Lower-Leg and Knee Test
NHTSA uses a Flexible Pedestrian Legform Impactor, commonly called FlexPLI, against the front bumper.
The device helps assess potential lower-leg and knee injuries, including forces and ligament-related measurements.
| Test Area | Vehicle Area | Primary Injury Concern |
|---|---|---|
| Adult/child headform | Hood and windshield region | Head injury |
| Upper legform | Hood leading edge | Upper-leg / hip-region injury |
| Lower legform | Front bumper | Lower-leg and knee injury |
How Is the Pedestrian Protection Score Calculated?
The complete NHTSA pedestrian crashworthiness assessment has a maximum possible score of 36 points.
Those points are divided between different body regions.
| Test Component | Maximum Points | Share of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Head protection | 18 points | 50% |
| Upper-leg protection | 9 points | 25% |
| Lower-leg protection | 9 points | 25% |
| Total | 36 points | 100% |
A vehicle receiving an overall score of at least 21.6 points, or 60% of the available score, qualifies for NHTSA pedestrian-protection credit.
NHTSA then identifies qualifying vehicles on its consumer-facing ratings website.
Is This Another 5-Star Rating?
Not yet.
This is one of the most important details for shoppers to understand.
NHTSA is currently using a pass/fail-style threshold for pedestrian crashworthiness rather than giving every vehicle a separate pedestrian score from one to five stars.
NHTSA has described this approach as temporary. The agency intends to move toward a more detailed comparative rating system as its broader NCAP modernization continues.
What Will Buyers See on NHTSA's Website?
NHTSA says vehicle rating pages will use a highlighted pedestrian-protection section showing one of several statuses.
| Status | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Passed | The submitted/tested vehicle met NHTSA's pedestrian-protection criteria. |
| Failed | The vehicle did not meet the required pedestrian-protection threshold. |
| Pending | A final result is not yet available. |
| Not Submitted | Required manufacturer information has not been submitted for the listed assessment. |
This means shoppers should avoid assuming that a vehicle without a “Passed” result automatically failed.
Its information may still be pending or may not yet have been submitted.
What Does “102 Models Passed” Actually Mean?
NHTSA says 102 model-year 2027 vehicles from 10 manufacturers met the criteria in the inaugural release.
That is significant, but it should not be interpreted as a ranking of the entire 2027 new-car market.
It also does not mean that every model not included among those 102 failed.
Results can be pending, not submitted or updated as more information becomes available.
For that reason, buyers should check the exact model year, make, model and configuration they are considering on NHTSA's official ratings database rather than relying on a brand-wide assumption.
Popular 2027 Models: Check the Exact NHTSA Status
NHTSA's announcement confirms that 102 model-year 2027 vehicle models from 10 manufacturers met the new pedestrian-protection criteria, but the agency's press release does not provide a simple static list of all 102 models. The authoritative result is the status shown on each individual vehicle page in NHTSA's ratings database.
- Open NHTSA's official 5-Star Safety Ratings database.
- Search the exact 2027 make, model and configuration.
- Look for the pedestrian-protection panel and check whether it says Passed, Failed, Pending or Not Submitted.
Does NHTSA Personally Crash-Test Every Vehicle?
Not every data point comes from a full NHTSA-run test program.
Under the pedestrian-protection process, manufacturers can submit test data to NHTSA using the agency's required procedures.
NHTSA can then select vehicles for independent verification testing.
For verification, the agency can test selected head-impact points as well as necessary upper- and lower-leg impact locations and compare those results with manufacturer-submitted data.
This approach is similar to the verification concept already used in parts of NCAP's crash-avoidance program.
Pedestrian Protection vs Pedestrian AEB
These two systems address different stages of a potential crash.
| Pedestrian Protection | Pedestrian AEB | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Reduce injury severity if impact occurs | Help avoid or reduce the impact itself |
| What is evaluated? | Vehicle front-end structure and impact performance | Detection sensors, software and automatic braking |
| Main areas | Hood, windshield region, leading edge and bumper | Camera/radar perception and braking response |
| Type | Crashworthiness | Crash avoidance / ADAS |
A well-rounded pedestrian-safety strategy ideally addresses both questions: can the vehicle help avoid hitting someone, and if a collision still occurs, can its physical design reduce injury risk?
Related Guide: What Is ADAS in Cars? →Is This the Same as the Federal AEB Requirement?
No.
The pedestrian-protection assessment discussed here is part of NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program, which provides comparative consumer safety information.
Separately, NHTSA has adopted Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 127, requiring compliant automatic emergency braking—including pedestrian AEB—on nearly all new passenger cars and light trucks by September 2029.
These initiatives complement each other, but they evaluate different aspects of vehicle safety.
Pedestrian AEB tries to prevent the collision.
Pedestrian crashworthiness tries to reduce injury if the collision still happens.
Why Vehicle Shape Matters More Than It May Seem
Pedestrian injury risk is influenced by much more than the speed of the vehicle.
The physical surfaces a pedestrian contacts also matter.
A hood with adequate deformation space may behave differently from one sitting immediately above hard mechanical components.
Likewise, bumper geometry can affect where forces are applied to the leg and knee.
The new NHTSA program therefore creates an incentive for manufacturers to consider pedestrian injury mitigation during front-end engineering instead of evaluating only styling, aerodynamics and occupant protection.
Can SUVs and Trucks Pass the Test?
The new assessment applies across different vehicle designs, but the performance of a specific model depends on its actual front-end geometry and test results.
It would be misleading to assume that every sedan automatically performs well or every SUV or pickup automatically performs poorly.
Consumers should use NHTSA's model-specific result rather than judging pedestrian protection from body style alone.
Should Pedestrian Protection Change Your Buying Decision?
It should be treated as another useful piece of the safety puzzle rather than a replacement for existing crash ratings.
When comparing two vehicles, a buyer can now consider:
- Frontal crash rating
- Side crash rating
- Rollover information
- Pedestrian crashworthiness result
- Automatic emergency braking performance
- Pedestrian AEB
- Blind-spot technology
- Lane-keeping systems
A vehicle can be strong in one area and weaker in another, which is why one badge should not be treated as a complete safety verdict.
Safety Guide: ADAS Highway Driving Myths Explained → Explore the DriveSpecLab Car Tech Hub →How to Check a 2027 Vehicle Before Buying
For shoppers considering a new model, the process is straightforward.
Search the exact model year and vehicle on NHTSA's official ratings website and look for the pedestrian-protection section.
Then check whether the result is listed as Passed, Failed, Pending or Not Submitted.
After that, compare the pedestrian result with the vehicle's occupant crash ratings and crash-avoidance equipment.
This is particularly important when comparing different trims or versions because equipment and vehicle configuration can differ.
DriveSpecLab Take
NHTSA's pedestrian-protection assessment is one of the more meaningful recent changes to the U.S. consumer vehicle-safety system because it expands the idea of vehicle safety beyond the people sitting inside the car.
The first release—102 model-year 2027 vehicles from 10 manufacturers meeting the criteria—shows that pedestrian protection is becoming a visible part of the buying conversation.
But shoppers should understand what the new badge does and does not say.
It is currently a threshold-based NCAP assessment, not a separate five-star pedestrian rating and not a guarantee that a pedestrian will avoid serious injury in a real-world crash.
The most useful approach is to combine this new information with traditional crashworthiness scores and crash-avoidance technology such as pedestrian AEB.
That gives buyers a broader view of safety: how effectively a vehicle may help prevent a crash, how well it protects occupants, and now how its design may affect a pedestrian if a collision occurs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are NHTSA's new pedestrian safety tests?
They are pedestrian crashworthiness assessments within NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program that evaluate potential injury to the head, upper legs or hip region, lower legs and knees when a pedestrian is struck by the front of a vehicle.
How many 2027 models met NHTSA's pedestrian criteria?
NHTSA announced that 102 model-year 2027 vehicle models from 10 manufacturers met the new performance criteria in its first published round.
What score does a vehicle need to pass?
The pedestrian-protection assessment has 36 possible points. NHTSA grants credit to vehicles scoring at least 21.6 points, equal to 60% of the available score.
Is the pedestrian result a 5-star score?
No. NHTSA is currently using a threshold-based result rather than a separate one-to-five-star pedestrian rating.
Does a vehicle without a pass automatically fail?
No. NHTSA can also show results as pending or not submitted, so shoppers should check the exact status listed for the vehicle.
Is pedestrian protection the same as pedestrian automatic emergency braking?
No. Pedestrian crashworthiness evaluates injury risk if an impact occurs. Pedestrian AEB is designed to detect a pedestrian and automatically brake to help avoid or reduce the collision.
Where can I check my vehicle's pedestrian result?
Use NHTSA's official 5-Star Safety Ratings database and search for the exact model year, make and model.
NHTSA — First-Ever Pedestrian Safety Test Results for 2027 Vehicle Models
NHTSA — Pedestrian Safety Data
NHTSA — Updates to the 5-Star Safety Ratings Program
Editorial note: This article explains NHTSA's pedestrian-protection assessment using official agency material. A passing result does not guarantee injury-free outcomes in real-world crashes, and individual vehicle results may change as NHTSA receives or verifies additional data.
Last updated: September 26, 2026
