For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Rogue Sport 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 Chevrolet Equinox doesn’t offer height-adjustable front seat belts.
The Nissan Rogue Sport has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Equinox doesn’t offer knee airbags.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Rogue Sport has standard Rear Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Equinox doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Rogue Sport has a standard blind spot warning system which uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. A system to reveal vehicles in the Equinox’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Rogue Sport has a standard rear 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. Rear cross-path warning costs extra on the Equinox.
The Rogue Sport (except S)’s optional 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 Equinox doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Rogue Sport and the Equinox have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, plastic fuel tanks, 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 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 Nissan Rogue Sport is safer than the Chevrolet Equinox:
|
Rogue Sport |
Equinox |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
132 |
376 |
Chest Compression |
.5 inches |
.6 inches |
Neck Compression |
34 lbs. |
51 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 Nissan Rogue Sport is safer than the Chevrolet Equinox:
|
Rogue Sport |
Equinox |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
106 |
109 |
Chest Movement |
.9 inches |
1.1 inches |
Abdominal Force |
156 lbs. |
195 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
211 |
288 |
Spine Acceleration |
38 G’s |
55 G’s |
Hip Force |
504 lbs. |
630 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
326 |
377 |
Hip Force |
590 lbs. |
730 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Rogue Sport is .5% to 4.2% less likely to roll over than the Equinox.