2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser

small car / 4-door wagon

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test
Head restraints & seats

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2006-10 models

Tested vehicle: 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser LX wagon

The Chrysler PT Cruiser was introduced in the 2001 model year. Beginning with 2006 models, an inflatable knee bolster was added to the lower instrument panel designed to minimize knee injuries to drivers in frontal crashes. The car was discontinued after the 2010 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained well.

Smeared greasepaint indicates where the dummy's head hit the roof rail during rebound. Head acceleration from this hit was low.

Forces on the lower left leg were high enough to indicate the possibility of injuries.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CEF0824
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 13
Left (cm) 21
Center (cm) 19
Right (cm) 15
Brake pedal (cm) 14
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 3
Right (cm) 2
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 9
Rearward (cm) -5
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 1

Driver injury measures

Test ID CEF0824
Head
HIC-15 277
Peak gs at hard contact 19
Neck
Tension (kN) 2.0
Extension bending moment (Nm) 31
Maximum Nij 0.38
Chest maximum compression (mm) 33
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 2.0
Femur force - right (kN) 3.8
Knee displacement - left (mm) 2
Knee displacement - right (mm) 6
Maximum tibia index - left 0.89
Maximum tibia index - right 0.66
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 1.3
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 2.8
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 67
Right 143

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Manual cloth seats

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type Manual cloth seats
Geometry
Backset (mm) 83
Distance below top of head (mm) 52
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Fail
Max T1 acceleration (g) 14.1
Head contact time (ms) 90
Force rating 3
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 342
Max neck tension (N) 918

How the head restraint & seat test is conducted
Currently, IIHS tests apply only to front seats.