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 Charger 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 Charger doesn’t offer knee airbags.
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 Charger.
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 Charger only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.
The CT5 has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. A system to reveal vehicles in the Charger’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the CT5 has standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert, helping the driver avoid collisions. Dodge charges extra for Rear Cross Path Detection on the Charger.
Both the CT5 and the Charger have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact 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 Dodge Charger:
|
CT5 |
Charger |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
24% |
26% |
Neck Stress |
217 lbs. |
230 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
5 lbs. |
41 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
408/341 lbs. |
582/440 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.6 inches |
.7 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
25% |
33% |
Neck Stress |
144 lbs. |
155 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
93/36 lbs. |
267/469 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 Dodge Charger:
|
CT5 |
Charger |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
129 |
138 |
Chest Movement |
.9 inches |
1.4 inches |
Abdominal Force |
209 lbs. |
212 lbs. |
Hip Force |
233 lbs. |
372 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
93 |
164 |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
240 |
270 |
Spine Acceleration |
35 G’s |
48 G’s |
Hip Force |
558 lbs. |
692 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.