For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Lincoln Nautilus have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Ford Explorer doesn’t offer pretensioners for the 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 Nautilus are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Explorer doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Both the Nautilus and the Explorer have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Lincoln Nautilus is safer than the Ford Explorer:
|
Nautilus |
Explorer |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
22.4% |
26.3% |
Neck Compression |
21 lbs. |
26 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
282 |
318 |
Chest Compression |
.4 inches |
.4 inches |
Neck Compression |
44 lbs. |
129 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
145/201 lbs. |
380/405 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 Lincoln Nautilus is safer than the Ford Explorer:
|
Nautilus |
Explorer |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
192 lbs. |
224 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
257 |
288 |
Spine Acceleration |
38 G’s |
39 G’s |
Hip Force |
425 lbs. |
573 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 front crash prevention system, and its headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Nautilus its highest rating: “Top Pick Plus” for 2019, a rating granted to only 113 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Explorer is only a standard “Top Pick” for 2019.