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 Outback are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Escape doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Outback has standard Whiplash-Reducing Front Seats, which use a specially designed seat to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Whiplash-Reducing Front Seats system allows the backrest to travel backwards to cushion the occupants and the headrests move forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Escape doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Outback. But it costs extra on the Escape.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Outback’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Escape doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
Both the Outback and the Escape have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, 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, rear cross-path warning and driver alert monitors.
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 Subaru Outback is safer than the Ford Escape:
|
Outback |
Escape |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
28 |
197 |
Chest Movement |
.5 inches |
.9 inches |
Abdominal Force |
101 G’s |
191 G’s |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
635 lbs. |
816 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
146 |
344 |
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 standard headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Outback its highest rating: “Top Pick Plus” for 2021, a rating granted to only 62 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Escape is only a standard “Top Pick” for 2021.