For enhanced safety, the front shoulder belts of the Buick Encore are height-adjustable, and the 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 Acura RDX has only front height-adjustable seat belts.
Both the Encore and the RDX have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive, collision warning systems, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors 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 Buick Encore is safer than the Acura RDX:
|
Encore |
RDX |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
122 |
300 |
Neck Injury Risk |
26% |
26% |
Neck Compression |
12 lbs. |
23 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
363/313 lbs. |
328/464 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
207 |
353 |
Chest Compression |
.3 inches |
.6 inches |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
249/289 lbs. |
362/441 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.