The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing to push back key milestones in its New Car Assessment Program, the crash-testing initiative that assigns star ratings to vehicles and serves as one of the most widely referenced consumer safety tools in the automotive industry. The proposed delays would extend an already slow timeline for updating the program's test protocols, raising questions about whether the ratings will continue to reflect the latest advances in vehicle safety technology. Industry observers and consumer advocates have pointed to a broader pattern of administrative delays across NHTSA, from rulemaking backlogs to stalled regulatory actions, fueling concerns that the agency's capacity to keep pace with a rapidly evolving automotive landscape is eroding.
NHTSA is proposing delays to the already laggard New Car Assessment Program, part of a larger pattern of tardiness by the agency.
