I'm concerned about the safety rating on the 03 deville

Hi all, I'm a brand new member here and I've got a question/concern.

I'm looking at devilles and there's a good deal on an 03 certified used deville at a near by dealership.

However, I looked up the safety ratings on it and was shocked to see it got very poor for the driver frontal crash test from the nhtsa. I also saw it had two driver side airbag related recalls.

Now my question is, did the 03 deville score badly because of a few airbag parts that needed to be recalled? And if it did, would it be safe if the faulty parts were replaced?

I can't get the nhtsa page to come up through a link so
here's a link to an 03 deville on autotrader with the recall info at the bottom.
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/safetyinfo.jsp?vehicle_number=100137363&&default_sort=priceDESC&dealer_id=564928&end_year=2003&address=85345&make2=&start_year=2003&fuel=&certified=&keywordsrep=&car_id=218152219&search_type=both&max_mileage=&body_code=0&drive=&min_price=&distance=25&engine=&transmission=&make=CAD&keywordsfyc=&sort_type=priceDESC&num_records=25&car_year=2003&doors=&style_flag=1&cardist=12&max_price=&advanced=&model=DEV&color=&ref=srl#vdptop

Here's a link to the crash test results.
http://www.safercar.gov/NCAP/Cars/2243.html

Thanks. :)

The poor rating of the test is due to the design of the car, not due to some faulty parts.

Lots of crash tests do not give IMO a good or accurate description of WHY the test did poorly (or well) especially compared to other cars.

Given the chest forces were pretty high, I suspect its because the Cadillac steering wheel may be closer to the driver than in other cars.
Most airbag equipeed cars seem to have the steering wheel far away from the driver specifically to give the air bag more room and thus lower decelleration forces.

Personally, I find such designs a bit irritating because I sit pretty far back (long legs) and have to reach for the wheel. One of the reasons why I bought my '97 Caddy is because the wheel is close to the driver. I can stretch out, but still steer the car comfortably.

However, when my wife drives the Caddy, she must move the seat so far forward she almost presses against the steering wheel.

Therefore, my '97 Caddy is safe for me but likely dangerous for my wife.

I would say the same may apply for you. If you are tall and sit far from the wheel, you'll be fine. If you are close to the wheel, look elsewhere.

Sweeeeeet. :grinyes:

The main reason I'm looking at devilles is because I'm so big that I don't fit comfortably (or at all) in other cars, so my seat will be as far back as possible.

And I know how safe caddy's can be personally. My first car (a 92 deville) was totaled by a lifted F-350, but I only had the ol' seatbelt bruise and sore chest.

Thanks for easing my mind. I'll definately go back here if I have more deville related stuff.

In case anyone is curious on what I got, I ended up getting a good deal on an 05 certifeied used deville. Thanks again Magicrat.

Congratulations, that sounds like a great car!