The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released on November 19th a list of the 72 model year 2002 vehicles it will crash test in frontal or side impacts, and the 61 vehicles it will rate for the risk of rollover, providing safety information to help consumers make buying decisions.

The safety agency said it will crash test 29 passenger cars, 32 SUV's, 5 vans, and 6 pickups in its New Car Assesment Program. Forty-one vehicles will be crashed in the frontal direction and thirty-one vehicles will be crashed from the side. Once the testing is completed, NHTSA estimates that frontal and side safety information can be provided to consumers for about 80 percent of the model year 2002 vehicles to be sold in the U.S.

NHTSA will also test the rollover propensity of 61 vehicles. Many of these models are the same as the vehicles selected for crash testing. They include 22 passenger cars, 24 SUV's, one van and 14 pickups. This information is estimated to provide safety information for about 61 percent of the vehicles sold in the U.S.

Consumers can see test results for previous years and can obtain additional information, including a full list of the vehicles to be tested at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ or by calling the agency's toll-free Auto Safety Hotline at 800-424-9393, or 202-366-0123 in the Washington area.