In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Bolt are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Prius doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Chevrolet Bolt has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Prius doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
The Bolt offers optional Surround Vision to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Prius only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
Both the Bolt and the Prius have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Chevrolet Bolt is safer than the Toyota Prius:
|
Bolt |
Prius |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
24% |
30% |
Neck Stress |
239 lbs. |
344 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
17 lbs. |
42 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
137/187 lbs. |
290/353 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
22% |
53% |
Neck Stress |
119 lbs. |
173 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
26/162 lbs. |
203/179 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Chevrolet Bolt is safer than the Toyota Prius:
|
Bolt |
Prius |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
74 |
182 |
Abdominal Force |
132 G’s |
183 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
2 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
10 inches |
12 inches |
Hip Force |
417 lbs. |
1213 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.