Bad news for the 2026 Cadillac CT5. After undergoing updated testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the luxury four-door sedan scored rarely-seen Poor ratings on several tests, and the consequences for drivers could be especially severe. That’s because the IIHS’s tougher side-impact tests subjected the dummy driver’s head to forces as high as 161 G when a 4,300-pound moving barrier shaped like a modern SUV hit the driver’s side of the vehicle at just 37 mph.
In the test, the CT5’s driver dummy slid down below the side curtain airbag and hit the windowsill and door trim panel with an HIC-15 rating of 1,282. This figure refers to the head injury criterion that measures impact over 15 milliseconds, and a number of 700 is estimated to represent a 5 percent risk of a severe injury. In other words, the driver is at severe risk of serious head trauma.
2026 Cadillac CT5 Has Safety Concerns In Several Areas
The IIHS’ evaluation of the 2026 CT5 led to a score of Poor on the updated moderate overlap front test and Poor on the updated side-impact test discussed above, but headlights also got bashed, with scores of Marginal and Poor, depending on the trim. The front crash prevention test for vehicle-to-vehicle crashes also returned a score of Poor, and the front pedestrian crash prevention measures were rated Acceptable, while seat belt reminder tests resulted in a Moderate rating.
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As noted by Motor1, Premium Luxury trims of the CT5 weighing between 3,663 pounds and 3,802 lbs showed a moderate risk of chest injury and a likely head or neck injury for the rear-seat dummy, dragging the overall rating down to Poor despite the front crash structure holding up relatively well. But it’s not all bad news for the CT5, with the rear passenger dummy earning a score of Good for injury measures like airbags and the back-seat side structure.
What This Means
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The CT5 isn’t an egregiously unsafe car. After all, it has a 5-star rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. However, the NHTSA’s tests are less thorough than those of the IIHS, and given how many big, heavy SUVs are on the roads, it’s worth taking note of the potential risks in the real world. Cars like the BMW 5 Series and even the humble Toyota Corolla have performed strongly in similar tests, so there are better options out there. Hopefully, General Motors will learn from these updated tests and apply better safety protocols with future gas sedans, expected to include a successor to the CT5-V Blackwing, among others.
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