For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Subaru Forester 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 Nissan Murano doesn’t offer pretensioners for the rear seat belts.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Forester. But it costs extra on the Murano.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Forester Premium/Sport/Wilderness/Limited/Touring’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Murano doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
Both the Forester and the Murano have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver 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, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors, rear cross-path warning and driver alert monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Subaru Forester is safer than the Nissan Murano:
|
Forester |
Murano |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
186 |
342 |
Neck Injury Risk |
23% |
28% |
Neck Compression |
22 lbs. |
34 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.7 inches |
.7 inches |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
105/93 lbs. |
169/236 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 Subaru Forester is safer than the Nissan Murano:
|
Forester |
Murano |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
66 |
101 |
Chest Movement |
.6 inches |
.9 inches |
Hip Force |
389 lbs. |
392 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
16 inches |
17 inches |
HIC |
121 |
439 |
Spine Acceleration |
40 G’s |
41 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.