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 Encore GX are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Model Y doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Encore GX offers an optional Surround View to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Model Y 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.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Encore GX’s standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert uses sensors in the rear to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. The Model Y doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
The Encore GX has standard OnStar®, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a cellular system to get turn-by-turn driving directions, remotely unlock your doors if you lock your keys in, help track down your vehicle if it’s stolen or send emergency personnel to the scene if any airbags deploy. The Model Y doesn’t offer a GPS response system, only a navigation computer with no live response for emergencies, so if you’re involved in an accident and you’re incapacitated help may not come as quickly.
Both the Encore GX and the Model Y have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, 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, and blind spot warning systems.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Buick Encore GX is safer than the Tesla Model Y:
|
Encore GX |
Model Y |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
24% |
25% |
Neck Stress |
190 lbs. |
210 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
15 lbs. |
68 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
83/261 lbs. |
298/427 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 Buick Encore GX is safer than the Tesla Model Y:
|
Encore GX |
Model Y |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
185 |
358 |
Spine Acceleration |
41 G’s |
45 G’s |
Hip Force |
517 lbs. |
567 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
38 G’s |
39 G’s |
Hip Force |
591 lbs. |
682 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.