In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the CT5 are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The 300 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Cadillac CT5 has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The 300 doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The CT5 Premium Luxury/Sport has standard Reverse Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The 300 doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The CT5’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the 300 and is only available on 300 Touring L/S.
The CT5 Premium Luxury/Sport offers an optional HD Surround Vision to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The 300 only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
The CT5 has a standard blind spot warning system which uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. Only the 300 Touring L/S offers a blind spot warning system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the CT5 has a standard rear cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Only the 300 Touring L/S has a rear cross-path warning system.
Both the CT5 and the 300 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras and available all wheel drive.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Cadillac CT5 is safer than the Chrysler 300:
|
CT5 |
300 |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
24% |
31% |
Neck Stress |
217 lbs. |
280 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
5 lbs. |
10 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
408/341 lbs. |
617/568 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.6 inches |
.9 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
25% |
33% |
Neck Compression |
79 lbs. |
113 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
93/36 lbs. |
504/415 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Cadillac CT5 is safer than the Chrysler 300:
|
CT5 |
300 |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
129 |
236 |
Chest Movement |
.9 inches |
1.4 inches |
Abdominal Force |
209 lbs. |
315 lbs. |
Hip Force |
233 lbs. |
433 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
93 |
134 |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
240 |
302 |
Spine Acceleration |
35 G’s |
47 G’s |
Hip Force |
558 lbs. |
910 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the CT5, with its five-star roll-over rating, is 1.8% less likely to roll over than the 300, which received a four-star rating.