For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Rogue 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 Acura RDX 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 Rogue are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The RDX doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Rogue Platinum has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The RDX doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Rogue has standard Rear Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The RDX doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Rogue’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 RDX doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Rogue and the RDX have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, 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 is safer than the Acura RDX:
|
Rogue |
RDX |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
272/366 lbs. |
328/464 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 is safer than the Acura RDX:
|
Rogue |
RDX |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.4 inches |
.6 inches |
Abdominal Force |
99 lbs. |
130 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
31 G’s |
52 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
162 |
486 |
Hip Force |
398 lbs. |
704 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.