2009 Buick Lucerne

large car / 4-door sedan

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Evaluation criteria	Rating
Moderate overlap front: original test
Side: original test
Head restraints & seats

Other available safety features

Optional blind spot detection
Optional lane departure warning

Key

G
Good
A
Acceptable
M
Marginal
P
Poor

Superior
Advanced
Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2006-11 models

Tested vehicle: 2006 Buick Lucerne CXL 4-door

The Buick Lucerne was introduced in the 2006 model year as a replacement for the Buick LeSabre and Park Avenue. The Cadillac DTS was introduced in the 2006 model year as a replacement for the Cadillac DeVille.

Two moderate overlap frontal tests of the Lucerne were conducted, one by the Institute and the other by General Motors. Ratings are based on both tests.

Evaluation criteria	Rating
Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics

Action shot taken during the Institute's moderate overlap frontal crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained well (Institute test car shown).

Dummy movement was well controlled in both tests. During rebound, the dummy's head hit only the head restraint, as indicated by smeared greasepaint.

Forces on the lower right leg were high enough to indicate the possibility of injury in the Institute's test (shown). In GM's test, forces on both lower legs were sufficiently high to indicate the possibility of injuries.

Technical measurements for this test

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CEF0603	VTF0504
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm)	4	6
Left (cm)	14	14
Center (cm)	14	15
Right (cm)	14	13
Brake pedal (cm)	5	7
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm)	0	1
Right (cm)	0	0
Steering column movement
Upward (cm)	0	0
Rearward (cm)	-1	0
A-pillar rearward movement (cm)	0	0

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CEF0603	VTF0504
Head
HIC-15	297	170
Peak gs at hard contact	no contact	no contact
Neck
Tension (kN)	0.8	0.8
Extension bending moment (Nm)	10	9
Maximum Nij	0.35	0.15
Chest maximum compression (mm)	33	35
Legs
Femur force - left (kN)	1.2	0.7
Femur force - right (kN)	3.0	2.8
Knee displacement - left (mm)	0	0
Knee displacement - right (mm)	0	0
Maximum tibia index - left	0.35	0.85
Maximum tibia index - right	0.79	1.10
Tibia axial force - left (kN)	2.3	3.8
Tibia axial force - right (kN)	4.2	4.2
Foot acceleration (g)
Left	103	121
Right	61	64

About the original moderate overlap front test

Side: original test

Rating applies to 2006-11 models

Tested vehicle: 2006 Buick Lucerne CXL 4-door with standard front and rear head curtain airbags and standard front seat-mounted torso airbags

Evaluation criteria	Rating
Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Driver head protection
Rear passenger injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Rear passenger head protection

View of the vehicle and barrier just after the crash test.

View of the vehicle after the crash with doors removed, showing the side airbags and damage to the occupant compartment.

Smeared greasepaint shows where the driver dummy's head was protected from being hit by hard structures by the side curtain airbag.

Smeared greasepaint shows where the rear passenger dummy's head was protected by the side airbag.

Technical measurements for this test

Test ID	CES0616
B-pillar to longitudinal centerline of driver's seat (cm)	-3.5
Negative numbers indicate the amount by which the crush stopped short of the seat centerline.

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CES0616
Head HIC-15	407
Neck
Tension (kN)	1.5
Compression (kN)	0.0
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm)	43
Lateral force (kN)	2.4
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm)	38
Average deflection (mm)	32
Maximum deflection rate (m/s)	4.53
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s)	0.81
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN)	3.7
Acetabulum force (kN)	2.2
Combined force (kN)	5.8
Left femur
L-M force (kN)	0.4
L-M moment (Nm)	61
A-P moment (Nm)	45

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CES0616
Head HIC-15	220
Neck
Tension (kN)	0.4
Compression (kN)	0.3
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm)	27
Lateral force (kN)	1.3
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm)	31
Average deflection (mm)	24
Maximum deflection rate (m/s)	2.69
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s)	0.35
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN)	0.7
Acetabulum force (kN)	4.0
Combined force (kN)	4.4
Left femur
L-M force (kN)	1.0
L-M moment (Nm)	98
A-P moment (Nm)	35

About the original side crash test

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Power leather seats

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry

Technical measurements for this test

Seat type	Power leather seats
Geometry
Backset (mm)	32
Distance below top of head (mm)	59
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail	Fail
Max T1 acceleration (g)	11.2
Head contact time (ms)	88
Force rating	2
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N)	150
Max neck tension (N)	621

About the head restraint & seat test
Currently, IIHS tests apply only to front seats.