1998 Volkswagen Passat

midsize car / 4-door sedan

1998 Volkswagen Passat 4-door sedan

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test

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 1998-2005 models

Tested vehicle: 1998 Volkswagen Passat GLS 4-door

The Volkswagen Passat was redesigned for the 1998 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Dummy movement was reasonably well controlled. After the dummy moved forward into the airbag, its head moved toward the window sill as floor deformation tipped the driver seat toward the door.

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

Despite some bending of the roof rail, the driver's survival space was maintained well.

A button on the side of the head restraint is for locking in position after the restraint has been adjusted upward. This design improvement was introduced during the 1998 model year. Still, the head restraint is marginal.

Minimal damage occurred in the most demanding bumper test, a 5 mph rear-into-pole impact.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CF98002
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 12
Left (cm) 16
Center (cm) 13
Right (cm) 10
Brake pedal (cm) 4
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 8
Right (cm) 7
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 9
Rearward (cm) 2
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 4

Driver injury measures

Test ID CF98002
Head
HIC-15 160
Peak gs at hard contact no contact
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.7
Extension bending moment (Nm) 10
Maximum Nij 0.30
Chest maximum compression (mm) 28
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 3.7
Femur force - right (kN) 1.8
Knee displacement - left (mm) 5
Knee displacement - right (mm) 4
Maximum tibia index - left 0.37
Maximum tibia index - right 0.60
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 0.8
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 2.2
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 50
Right 70

About the original moderate overlap front test