With the soon-to-debut Chevrolet Cruze, GM will have a dynamic new compact that offers sharp styling, an engaging driving experience and the ability to reach 40 mpg in highway driving. That’s a tough package to beat, especially when the Cruze also offers an unbeatable level of standard safety features.
Highlights include the most standard air bags in the segment—ten in all—ranging from head-curtain side air bags for front-seat passengers to side-impact units for both front and outboard rear occupants to new knee air bags all around. Also standard on the Cruze are electronic stability control with rollover-sensing capabilities, a collapsible pedal system to reduce the risk of leg/ankle injuries to the driver and, of course, GM’s OnStar system with Automatic Crash Response.
OnStar itself has been enhanced, too. The system has long been able to automatically notify first responders after an air-bag deployment, but now it can also contact emergency personnel based on a variety of other factors, even if air bags are not triggered. The key is a new “injury severity prediction” feature, which analyzes vehicle-sensor data regarding such things as the severity and direction of any impact, whether there was one impact or more, and whether the vehicle has been involved in a rollover. If this information indicates a moderate to severe front, rear or side-impact crash, the Automatic Crash Response is activated. Chevrolet’s previous compact also received four- and five-star safety ratings, which is why used car shoppers often search for an Albuquerque certified used Chevrolet Cobalt.
GM says that all these features and more give the Cruze the most standard safety features in its segment, and that’s on top of a body structure specifically designed with safety in mind. For example, the Chevy boasts high-strength steel in key areas of its body, along with a support system of underbody main rails and a cross-structure beam behind the instrument panel, all of which helped the Cruze already earn a strong reputation for safety in Europe.
Specifically, it earned five stars—the highest rating—in the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP), becoming the first passenger car to earn the maximum number of points in both the EuroNCAP’s frontal offset testing and its side-impact crash testing against a moving deformable barrier.
Needless to say, it’s a safe bet the new Cruze will be just as popular as it is protective when it launches in the U.S. later this year.
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