The S60’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The TLX doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the S60 and TLX have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The S60 Plus/Ultimate/Polestar has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The TLX’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
The S60 has a standard Whiplash Protection System (WHIPS), which use a specially designed seat to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the WHIPS allows the backrest to travel backwards to cushion the occupants and the headrests move forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. At the same time the pretensioning seatbelts fire, removing slack from the belts. The TLX doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The S60 has standard Automatic Braking After Collision, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The TLX doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The S60 has standard CTA Auto Brake that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The TLX doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The S60 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 TLX’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the S60 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 TLX.
Both the S60 and the TLX have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, 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, driver alert monitors, 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 Volvo S60 is safer than the Acura TLX:
|
|
S60 |
TLX |
|
|
Driver |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
|
|
Passenger |
|
| STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
| HIC |
314 |
358 |
| Neck Injury Risk |
30% |
32% |
| Neck Stress |
146 lbs. |
186 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 Volvo S60 is safer than the Acura TLX:
|
|
S60 |
TLX |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
103 |
128 |
| Hip Force |
212 lbs. |
279 lbs. |
|
|
Rear Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Spine Acceleration |
50 G’s |
53 G’s |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
319 |
464 |
| Spine Acceleration |
29 G’s |
33 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.