Both the S60 and IS have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The S60 Plus/Ultimate 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 IS’ 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 S60 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 IS doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the S60 has standard Cross Traffic Alert with Braking Intervention, systems which detect vehicles approaching from the sides and can automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. Rear Cross-Traffic Braking costs extra on the IS.
The S60’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 IS doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the S60 and the IS have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver 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, post-collision automatic braking systems, 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 Volvo S60 is safer than the Lexus IS:
|
|
S60 |
IS |
|
|
Driver |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
| HIC |
192 |
220 |
| Neck Injury Risk |
25.7% |
35% |
| Neck Stress |
189 lbs. |
429 lbs. |
| Leg Forces (l/r) |
395/518 lbs. |
599/675 lbs. |
|
|
Passenger |
|
| STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
| Neck Injury Risk |
30% |
41% |
| Neck Stress |
146 lbs. |
152 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 Volvo S60 is safer than the Lexus IS:
|
|
S60 |
IS |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
103 |
142 |
| Chest Movement |
.9 inches |
1 inches |
| Abdominal Force |
194 lbs. |
203 lbs. |
| Hip Force |
212 lbs. |
406 lbs. |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Max Damage Depth |
13 inches |
15 inches |
| Spine Acceleration |
29 G’s |
34 G’s |
| Hip Force |
490 lbs. |
650 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.