The 2026 Cadillac CT5 just did something you rarely see from a modern luxury sedan: it earned Poor ratings in two key Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash tests, including the group’s tougher side impact evaluation. That sits awkwardly beside the CT5’s 5-star overall safety scores from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and raises fresh questions about what those stars really capture.
For anyone weighing a CT5 as a daily driver, company car, or fleet sedan, the issue isn’t simply that it “flunked” a test. The real story is how the driver dummy’s head and chest behaved in IIHS’ newer SUV-style crash scenarios and why rivals like the BMW 5 Series and even the Toyota Corolla fared better when the same forces were applied.
