08' Malibu Crash Test Results

[ToniCipriani]

They're out now:

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/ratingsbyseries.aspx?id=369

Still not as rock solid as the venerable 9-3 (still the safety pick for 2008), but very good results indeed.

[daves87rs]

Not bad...

[!!!TED!!!]

Not bad...

Video Presentation:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=VETbs-hoxX4

Behind the scenes video of malibu getting hit (cool!):

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=zjBypVuBGSA

[2QuickZ's]

The biggest disappointment lately is that GM has had trouble getting things done correctly the first time. Based on the fact it stipulates the side crash test rating was for Malibu's built after Feb. 2008, I'm guessing it got tested twice. It probably tested a little lower the first time it was tested, GM made an engineering change and then had it retested. The same thing happened on 2008 Saturn Vue and I believe it may have happened on at least one other GM vehicle, though I can't recall which one. How are they not catching this during development?

[pow]

The biggest disappointment lately is that GM has had trouble getting things done correctly the first time. Based on the fact it stipulates the side crash test rating was for Malibu's built after Feb. 2008, I'm guessing it got tested twice. It probably tested a little lower the first time it was tested, GM made an engineering change and then had it retested. The same thing happened on 2008 Saturn Vue and I believe it may have happened on at least one other GM vehicle, though I can't recall which one. How are they not catching this during development?

With the Malibu, they made trim changes to the door panels so that they wouldn't impact the dummy's torso as hard. With the VUE, they made changes to the curtain airbags, which didn't fully deploy for the rear passengers.

I know they also retested the Uplander, because the second row captains chairs would come off in the side crash test. GM added retention hooks on later models, and that fixed the problem.

[Drew Dowdell]

they retested the original CTS

[2QuickZ's]

they retested the original CTS

That was the other one I was thinking of. I can't remember why, though. I knew the Vue was because the curtain airbag didn't fully deploy. I researched that before I bought one.

I still wonder how this type of thing makes it into production. I would have thought that by now, all the OEM's would be testing not only to NHTSA standards but also to IIHS during the development process.

[Dsuupr]

Atleast GM is responding quick these days rather than making excuses and waiting until the car is 1 year near the end of it's production life to make the changes.