More than a decade ago (in 1998), the European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) performed its series of crash tests on 1998 Opel/Vauxhall Omega — the flagship sedan marketed by the sister brands at the time. At the time of testing seen here, the Omega, sold in the U.S. — with specific changes — as the Cadillac Catera and related to Holden’s Commodore, was one of the older designs for a car in its class, and thus didn’t have passenger or side-impact airbags as standard equipment: they were merely options.
As such, the NCAP awarded the midsized Omega three stars (of five), with the rating rising to four when side airbags were added. In addition, chest injury risks for the driver were reduced when the side-impact bags were added — and for good measure: look at how much “flex” there is in the side crash test. NCAP deemed the Omega’s front-impact performance “reasonable”, but noted that the driver’s feet and ankles were at risk of being injured due to the amount of brake pedal travel rearward.
The Omega received two of four stars for pedestrian protection, with a score of 16, but the NCAP noted that parts of the hood provided poor cushioning.
Watch the full video of the battery of tests of the 2.0 GL/GLS models in left-hand drive configurations:
The GM Authority Take
Man do GM’s modern mid-sizers put those of the 90s to shame when it comes to crash-worthiness (along with driving dynamics, design, technology, fuel economy, and pretty much everything else). Don’t you love progress?
Comments
Do these crash results also apply to the same era Cadillac Catera since it was based on the Opel Omega?
Not necessarily; the regulations in America were different then, as they are now, so it could have been rated differently. I don’t remember if the Catera have standard side bags… did it?
The 1998 Sports Model and ALL 2000 and 2001 models were equipped with standard side airbags. The 1997 ALL and 1998 Non Sports Model versions were not equipped with side airbags though. The Cadillac Catera was later replaced in 2002 by a completely different but still similar sized RWD Cadillac CTS since the Catera did not sell well here in the US because many mistaken this model with another similar size and design but completely different model the FWD 1997-2003 Chevrolet Malibu – another GM Product but much less expensive than the Catera.
Now that you mention it, I can see the resemblance between the Catera and the fifth-gen Malibu — even though the two models had nothing in common.
On a current scenario, the 2013 Cadillac ATS which is a RWD Holden Based Platform is identical in size with the lesser and pedestrian 2013 Chevrolet Cruze and its platform related cousin FWD Opel Based Platform the 2013 Buick Verano but they are completely different in chassis and chassis design than the Cadillac ATS. Same can be said with the RWD Cadillac Catera replacement the RWD 2013 Cadillac CTS with the newly redesigned but way less expensive the FWD 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. GM had converted all Cadillac models to RWD while Chevrolet with the exception of the Corvette, Camaro, the Holden based Caprice PPV and the upcoming SS model and all of its pick-up trucks and truck based SUVs which are all RWD, all others are FWD.
Pedro — while your observations are correct as a whole, one thing I’d point out is that the ATS’ Alpha architecture has nothing “Holden based” about it.
Also, the fact that the ATS, Cruze, and Verano (as well as the Astra) are similar in size speaks to all of the vehicles occupying the compact vehicle (C) segment — as do the 3er, C-Class, A4, IS, etc.
THX for clarifying that the Alpha architecture had nothing to do with Holden developing these platforms but its uniquely and exclusively made for Cadillac only. Even though that this next analogy is outside the GM realm but as you mentioned the C-segment compact classifications, same thing here applies with GM’s targeted competitor like the RWD Lexus IS along with its much cheaper, similarly sized and completely different counterpart the FWD Toyota Corolla both two different platform models from the same company Toyota. Only GM and Toyota offers either a FWD and RWD models which can belong to the same size segment categories and yet have both different architectures and related platforms as well.
True. I’d also add Audi/VW to that list — as the A4 uses a different architecture than the similarly-sized Jetta, albeit the A4 isn’t entirely RWD.
Well Said. You read my mind and I agree with you 100% on this one.