National Automotive Sampling System

Collecting Relevant Data and Information

The National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) provides NHTSA an efficient and reusable resource with which to conduct data collection representing a broad spectrum of American society. Using a core set of crash data components, NASS has proven a reliable resource for a variety of agency sponsored electronic data collection efforts over the past 10 years.

NASS is composed of two systems - the Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) and the General Estimates System (GES). These are based on cases selected from a sample of police crash reports. CDS data focus on passenger vehicle crashes, and are used to investigate injury mechanisms to identify potential improvements in vehicle design. GES data focus on the bigger overall crash picture, and are used for problem size assessments and tracking trends.

GES data come from a nationally representative sample of police reported motor vehicle crashes of all types, from minor to fatal. The system began in 1988, and was created to identify traffic safety problem areas, provide a basis for regulatory and consumer initiatives, and form the basis for cost and benefit analyses of traffic safety initiatives. The information is used to estimate how many crashes of different kinds take place, and what happens when they occur.