For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volvo S60 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 Toyota Prius Prime doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The S60’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Prius Prime doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the S60 and Prius Prime 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 Prius Prime’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 S60 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 Prius Prime 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.
The S60 offers all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Prius Prime doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The S60 offers an optional 360° Camera to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Prius Prime 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 S60 has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. Only the Prius Prime Limited offers a blind spot warning system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the S60 has standard Cross Traffic Alert and Braking Intervention automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Only the Prius Prime Limited offers Rear Cross Traffic Alert.
Compared to metal, the S60’s plastic fuel tank can withstand harder, more intrusive impacts without leaking; this decreases the possibility of fire. The Toyota Prius Prime has a metal gas tank.
Both the S60 and the Prius Prime have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, 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 driver alert monitors.
The Volvo S60 weighs 402 to 1098 pounds more than the Toyota Prius Prime. 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 S60 is safer than the Toyota Prius Prime:
|
S60 |
Prius Prime |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
192 |
229 |
Neck Injury Risk |
25.7% |
33% |
Neck Stress |
189 lbs. |
323 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 Toyota Prius Prime:
|
S60 |
Prius Prime |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
103 |
168 |
Hip Force |
212 lbs. |
373 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
29 G’s |
39 G’s |
Hip Force |
490 lbs. |
781 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
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 S60 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 128 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Prius Prime last would have qualified as only a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2019.