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 Jeep Compass 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 Compass doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Equinox’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Compass and is not available with Sport.
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 Compass only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.
Both the Equinox and the Compass have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive, 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 Equinox is safer than the Jeep Compass:
|
Equinox |
Compass |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
159 |
196 |
Neck Injury Risk |
17% |
41% |
Neck Stress |
190 lbs. |
445 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
10 lbs. |
38 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
363/349 lbs. |
326/489 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.6 inches |
.8 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
26% |
36% |
Neck Stress |
153 lbs. |
235 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
51 lbs. |
92 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
264/236 lbs. |
299/387 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, results indicate that the Chevrolet Equinox is safer than the Jeep Compass:
|
Equinox |
Compass |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
55 G’s |
56 G’s |
Hip Force |
630 lbs. |
928 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Equinox, with its four-star roll-over rating, is 1.7% to 4.2% less likely to roll over than the Compass, which received a three-star rating.
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 Compass last would have qualified as a “Top Pick” in 2017.