You know I'd never thought of doing it that way.. I suppose the knock sensor would see 'quiet' during a non-ignition event, and the crank acceleration wouldn't be as high (although that's damped by harmonic dampers on a lot of engines - I don't know about the 2.2 on the Omega, mind.. does it have a rubber ring in the crank pulley?).
Interesting.. thanks - you learn something new every day, as they say 
Not sure about the 2.2 but on the V6 the reluctor for the crank sensor is on the crank itself, so no damping there. I imagine the 2.2 is the same, based on the sensor location.
All depends how intelligent the ecu is. There was a time when they had very limited processing power so very little diagnostics could be built in. Knock sensor triggers were analogue, for example, so you couldn't tell the difference between knock, normal ignition and no ignition.
Nowadays you can cheaply build in very precise timing and analysis of waveforms coming from the sensors.
In fact, knock sensors themselves are probably on their way out:
http://delphi.com/manufacturers/auto/powertrain/gas/ignsys/ionized/This type of technology allows you to measure where in the engine cycle the "peak pressure" is occurring, and the ignition timing can then be adjusted to get the best from whatever fuel you are using.
aaanyway, back to the 2.2 Omega.

Kevin