Go and read NHTSA info and you'll see that the star ratings is ONLY meaningfull when comparing similarly weigh cars. So, if you're looking for compact cars, you're then looking for the highest ratings in that category. Also, smaller cars are easier to score higher in those ratings due to their ligher weight (less momentum to stop). If you're hitting a wall or a tree, then the weigh won't matter and the star ratings is the key. But most accident involves more than 2 cars...

I still strongly believe that Volvos are safer in real life accidents. Insurance death rates mean a lot but still doesn't take into account of how fequent the cars are driven (sport cars are driven less and thus has less fatality rates), the demography of the drivers (older people are easier to die but may not be as aggressive). Volvos are always on the top few spots even though we know Volvo owners put a lot of miles on their cars.

I'll galdy run an S80 head on into a '01 Civic at speed. Would you volunteer to be the driver of the Civic?

The stars are used because:

In response to Congress' request to provide consumers with

easily understandable vehicle safety performance information,

the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

developed the "star" scoring system. The results are reported

in a range of one to five stars.

So, it is for people that want to quickly compare without doing

too much additional research. I would not directly compare two

cars just based on the star system -- you need to look deeper.

As an example of what digging deeper reveals in the NHTSA tests:

Head injury is not measured in the side crashes.

They measure chest injuries. Well, my head is pretty important

to me and I'm more comfortable with it in a Volvo then a Honda

even though both have 5 stars.