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Cadillac ATS Earns Five-Star NHTSA Safety Rating

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#1 ·
Cadillac ATS Earns Five-Star NHTSA Safety Rating
AutoGuide
December 6, 2012
by Luke Vandezande


Arguably a new segment benchmark, Cadillac’s ATS can add a five-star NHTSA safety rating to its list of accolades.

Aimed at dethroning the BMW 3 Series, the ATS is one of the 54 latest vehicles to undergo testing. What’s more, it managed a five-star rating on not only the overall category, but in front- and side-impact crashes as well as rollover tests.

That meant a victory over its biggest contender: the BMW 3 Series, which also scored five starts overall, but lost out with only four in front-crash tests.

NHTSA’s tests cover approximately 85 percent of all new vehicles and will examine 33 passenger cars, 16 SUVs, four trucks and one minivan this year.

Results for the Lexus LS were also recently released and the car also scored a five-star overall rating, but just like BMW it did so with one four-star category.
 
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#2 ·
This is good news. The Cadillac ATS is probably one of the best sport luxury cars to come from GM or even enter the segment that it competes in but they need to put a more fuel efficient gearbox in it that has better shift points overall. The latest 3-Series has an 8-speed gearbox that's I think dual clutch and it's it nets about 3 MPG more than the ATS. Aside from that and some other minor material gripes I have with the ATS it's a great or probably Cadillac's best effort yet. What I'm looking forward to is the ATS-V with the new twin-turbo V6 engine.

Either way achieving a 5-star rating for both front and side impacts from the NHTSA is a good feat. "Safety comes first".
 
#4 ·
Goes to show that quality and thoughtful chassis engineering/design leads to:

Lighter weight (and better fuel efficiency)
More fun behind the wheel
Excellent passenger safety

While their cars are generally not my cup of tea, I have to give Honda credit for doing this for years. It's amazing how relatively light the new Accord is while being on the bigger end of the midsize segment (while being quieter than previous generations). Unfortunately the Malibu's heft won't be able to be addressed in the emergency makeover - but maybe the lessons from the ATS will trickle down by the next generation.
 
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