For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Chevrolet Bolt EUV 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 Cooper SE doesn’t offer height-adjustable 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 Bolt EUV are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Cooper SE doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Bolt EUV Premier has a standard Surround Vision to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Cooper SE 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 Bolt EUV’s optional 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 Cooper SE 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 Bolt EUV’s optional 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 Cooper SE doesn’t offer a cross-path warning system.
Both the Bolt EUV and the Cooper SE have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems and rearview cameras.
The Chevrolet Bolt EUV weighs 536 to 571 pounds more than the MINI Cooper SE. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts. Crosswinds also affect lighter cars more.