For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Ford Escape FHEV 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 MINI Cooper Clubman doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Ford Escape FHEV 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 Clubman doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Escape FHEV offers optional Reverse Brake Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Cooper Clubman doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Escape FHEV offers an optional 360-Degree Camera to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Cooper Clubman 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 Escape FHEV’s 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 Clubman 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 Escape FHEV’s standard 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 Clubman doesn’t offer a cross-path warning system.
Both the Escape FHEV and the Cooper Clubman have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors and available all wheel drive.
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, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its available headlight’s “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Escape FHEV the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2022, a rating granted to only 164 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Cooper Clubman has not been tested, yet.