The New York Times, "Safety Decoder: How to Make Sense of the Crash Ratings"

          The Ford Escape is "a genius on anything from dirt to gravel to granite," at least according to a recent ad in Maxim magazine. Not only does it have "brains for rocks," whatever that means, it has a computer that checks for "wheel slippage 200 times a second."

          Not that any of that helped on the government's rollover test. The Escape, a sport-utility vehicle, tipped up on two wheels during the test, a potentially deadly result. The ad does not mention that, of course.

          Likewise, an ad for the Dodge Durango in GQ boasts that it gets a "five-star" rating on the government's frontal crash test, but does not mention that the rear-wheel-drive version of the S.U.V. gets only three out of five stars on the government's rollover test and has been assessed a 21 percent risk of rolling over in a single-vehicle accident.

          Ads for the 2005 Suzuki Verona do not mention safety at all, pitching it as a $17,994 way to "reward your expectations." As it happens, the sedan is one of a small number of vehicles that merit only three stars on the government's frontal crash test, a result that represents a significantly higher risk of serious injury in such accidents than competing vehicles.

          Automakers, as one would expect, emphasize the positive. Suzuki said in a statement that all of its models were "rigorously tested using a variety of methods."

          The Verona notwithstanding, most vehicles can advertise a five-star safety rating from the government in some category. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been conducting a frontal crash test since the late 1970's and a side impact test since 1996. If a vehicle can't ace these tests or come close, you may want to think twice about buying it.

          "Quite frankly, the scores are continuing to the point where it's rare for a vehicle not to get a four-star rating in a crash test," said Rae Tyson, an agency spokesman. "It speaks to the fact that cars are safer now than they have ever been, but it also speaks to the fact that we have to update our crash test programs, particularly for side impacts, which we are in the process of doing."

          Road fatality rates in the United States are lower than they have ever been, but there are still more than 30,000 deaths a year in cars, minivans, S.U.V.'s and pickup trucks, and many more injuries. When considering safety, the government's frontal and side impact tests are only one part of what most safety experts say consumers should be paying attention to. The government's newer rollover testing, for instance, offers a wider range of results.

          There is plenty of free information on the Web from the two main entities that conduct crash testing. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posts its data at www.safercars.gov, while the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (a research group financed by auto insurers) posts its information at www.iihs.org, including new evaluations of how well headrests lessen whiplash.

          Consumer Reports magazine also compiles testing results from the government and insurers, runs vehicles through dozens of drive and handling tests and evaluates various design attributes, from blind spots to the difficulty of installing child seats. But looking up a vehicle on its Web site, www.consumerreports.org, requires a subscription.

          For some vehicles, it helps to check the government's database of investigations and complaints at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recallsearch.cfm.