For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volvo V60 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 Cadillac XT4 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The V60’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The XT4 doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the V60 and XT4 have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The V60 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 XT4’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 V60 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 XT4 doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The V60 has standard Post-impact braking, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The XT4 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.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the V60. But it costs extra on the XT4.
The V60’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the XT4.
The V60’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 XT4 doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the V60 and the XT4 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras and rear cross-path warning.
The Volvo V60 weighs 599 to 835 pounds more than the Cadillac XT4. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Volvo V60 is safer than the Cadillac XT4:
|
|
V60 |
XT4 |
|
|
Driver |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Neck Injury Risk |
25.7% |
28% |
| Neck Stress |
189 lbs. |
218 lbs. |
|
|
Passenger |
|
| STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
| HIC |
314 |
350 |
| Chest Compression |
.7 inches |
.7 inches |
| Neck Injury Risk |
30% |
34% |
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 V60 is safer than the Cadillac XT4:
|
|
V60 |
XT4 |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
103 |
114 |
| Hip Force |
212 lbs. |
328 lbs. |
|
|
Rear Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Spine Acceleration |
50 G’s |
51 G’s |
| Hip Force |
575 lbs. |
598 lbs. |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Max Damage Depth |
13 inches |
13 inches |
| Spine Acceleration |
29 G’s |
35 G’s |
| Hip Force |
490 lbs. |
522 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 V60, with its five-star roll-over rating, is 5.5% to 6.8% less likely to roll over than the XT4, which received a four-star rating.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, with its optional vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the V60 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 95 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The XT4 has not been fully tested, yet.