1997 Chevrolet Cavalier

small car / 4-door sedan

1997 Chevrolet Cavalier 4-door sedan
1995 Chevrolet Cavalier shown

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test

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 1995-2005 models

Tested vehicle: 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier 4-door

The Chevrolet Cavalier and the Pontiac Sunfire were redesigned for the 1995 model year. The Sunfire sedan was dropped after the 2002 model year, and the Cavalier was dropped after the 2005 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
Dummy movement wasn't well controlled. The dummy rotated around the left side of the airbag and, during rebound, the right rear of the dummy's head hit the window sill, denting it. Then the dummy's head hit the B-pillar.

Post-crash damage shot.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space wasn't maintained well.

Dummy movement wasn't well controlled during the crash test. Smeared greasepaint indicates where the dummy's head hit the window sill, producing a high head acceleration.

The dummy's legs finished trapped by footwell intrusion.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CF95014
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 23
Left (cm) 35
Center (cm) 30
Right (cm) 24
Brake pedal (cm) 26
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 16
Right (cm) 12
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 7
Rearward (cm) 11
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 16

Driver injury measures

Test ID CF95014
Head
HIC-15 313
Peak gs at hard contact 70
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.7
Extension bending moment (Nm) 41
Maximum Nij 0.40
Chest maximum compression (mm) 32
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 3.7
Femur force - right (kN) 2.5
Knee displacement - left (mm) 0
Knee displacement - right (mm) 0
Maximum tibia index - left 1.18
Maximum tibia index - right 0.66
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 3.7
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 4.1
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 82
Right 58

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted