Which cars are the safest cars in the United States, you may wonder. Is it BMW, Ford, Chevy? As far as car security matters, only eight of the 2004 model cars on the market have earned perfect scores in crash tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Here are the criterias: To pass the auto security test, the vehicle had to get perfect marks in all of the following categories:

• five-star ratings--the highest available--in NHTSA's frontal and side vehicle crash tests
• five-star rollover resistance ratings

or

• ratings of "good," (highest available), which includes an overall rating,plus individual ratings in the following categories:

• The frontal offset crash test structure/safety cage
• head/neck injury measures
• chest injury measures
• left and right leg/foot injury measures
• restraints/dummy kinematics

• ratings of "good" for head restraint design and the performance of bumpers in low-speed auto crash tests.

Side impact auto crash tests were also conducted for all vehicle brands but no car received perfect marks in those tests.

According to automotive experts, vehicle crash testing is still