For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Subaru Legacy 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 Mazda 6 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its 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 Legacy are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Mazda 6 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Subaru Legacy 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 Mazda 6 doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The Legacy has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Mazda 6 doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
Both the Legacy and the Mazda 6 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact 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 Legacy is safer than the Mazda 6:
|
Legacy |
Mazda 6 |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
241 |
249 |
Neck Injury Risk |
43% |
53% |
Neck Compression |
51 lbs. |
107 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
161/137 lbs. |
335/150 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 Legacy is safer than the Mazda 6:
|
Legacy |
Mazda 6 |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
50 |
154 |
Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
1.1 inches |
Abdominal Force |
216 lbs. |
256 lbs. |
Hip Force |
335 lbs. |
437 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
220 |
356 |
Spine Acceleration |
62 G’s |
64 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
104 |
271 |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.