For enhanced safety, the front and middle seat shoulder belts of the Toyota Sienna are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The Ford Transit Connect Wagon doesn’t offer height-adjustable middle 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 Sienna are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Transit Connect Wagon doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Toyota Sienna has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Transit Connect Wagon doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The Sienna has a standard Secondary Collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Transit Connect Wagon doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Sienna XLE/XSE/Woodland/Limited/Platinum has a standard Parking Support Brake that use rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Transit Connect Wagon doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Sienna offers all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Transit Connect Wagon doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The Sienna’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 Transit Connect Wagon.
The Sienna Platinum has a standard Bird’s Eye View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Transit Connect Wagon 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.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Sienna has a standard cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Cross-path warning costs extra on the Transit Connect Wagon.
Both the Sienna and the Transit Connect Wagon have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact 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, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights and rearview cameras.
The Toyota Sienna weighs 591 to 741 pounds more than the Ford Transit Connect Wagon. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
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 Sienna its highest rating: “Top Pick Plus” for 2021, a rating granted to only 68 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Transit Connect Wagon has not been tested, yet.