For enhanced safety, the Chevrolet Equinox’s rear seat shoulder belts have child comfort guides to move the belt to properly fit children. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages children to buckle up. The Honda HR-V doesn’t offer comfort guides on its rear seat belts.
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 Equinox are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The HR-V doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Equinox LT/RS/Premier offers an optional Surround Vision to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The HR-V only offers a rear monitor.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Equinox’s optional cross-path warning system uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. The HR-V doesn’t offer a cross-path warning system.
The Equinox has standard OnStar®, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a cellular system to get turn-by-turn driving directions, remotely unlock your doors if you lock your keys in, help track down your vehicle if it’s stolen or send emergency personnel to the scene if any airbags deploy. The HR-V doesn’t offer a GPS response system, only a navigation computer with no live response for emergencies, so if you’re involved in an accident and you’re incapacitated help may not come as quickly.
Both the Equinox and the HR-V have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive and blind spot warning systems.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Chevrolet Equinox is safer than the Honda HR-V:
|
Equinox |
HR-V |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
159 |
481 |
Neck Injury Risk |
17% |
19% |
Neck Stress |
190 lbs. |
244 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
26% |
41% |
Neck Stress |
153 lbs. |
218 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
264/236 lbs. |
574/500 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 Equinox is safer than the Honda HR-V:
|
Equinox |
HR-V |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
109 |
148 |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
288 |
357 |
Spine Acceleration |
55 G’s |
59 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
40 G’s |
48 G’s |
Hip Force |
730 lbs. |
799 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its available headlight’s “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Equinox the rating of “Top Pick” for 2021, a rating granted to only 119 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The HR-V has not been fully tested, yet.