For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Ford Mustang Mach-E 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 MINI SE Countryman doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests front crash prevention systems. With a score of 6 points, IIHS rates the Automatic Emergency Braking in the Mustang Mach-E as “Superior.” The SE Countryman scores only 3 points and is rated only “Advanced.”
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Mustang Mach-E has a standard Reverse Brake Assist that use rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Mustang Mach-E offers an optional 360-Degree Camera to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The SE Countryman 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.
The Mustang Mach-E’s blind spot warning system uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer a system to reveal objects in the driver’s blind spots.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Mustang Mach-E’s standard rear cross-path warning system uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer a cross-path warning system.
The Mustang Mach-E’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Mustang Mach-E and the SE Countryman have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, 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 and rearview cameras.
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, with its optional vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its available headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Mustang Mach-E the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2022, a rating granted to only 137 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The SE Countryman last would have qualified as a “Top Safety Pick” in 2017.