For enhanced safety, the front and second-row seat shoulder belts of the Volvo XC90 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 Chrysler Pacifica doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row seat belts.
The XC90’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Pacifica doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the XC90 and Pacifica have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The XC90 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 Pacifica’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 Volvo XC90 offers an optional built in child booster seat. It’s more crash worthy than an added child seat because of its direct attachment to the seat. Chrysler doesn’t offer the convenience and security of a built-in child booster seat in the Pacifica. Their owners must carry a heavy booster seat in and out of the vehicle; XC90 owners can just fold their built-in child seat up or down.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the XC90 deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The XC90’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Pacifica’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
The XC90 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 Pacifica doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The XC90 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 Pacifica 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 XC90. But it costs extra on the Pacifica.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the XC90’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Pacifica doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
Both the XC90 and Pacifica have rear cross-traffic warning, but the XC90 has Braking Intervention (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Pacifica’s Rear Cross Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.
The XC90’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 Pacifica doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the XC90 and the Pacifica 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, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available 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 XC90 is safer than the Chrysler Pacifica:
|
|
XC90 |
Pacifica |
|
|
Driver |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
137 |
168 |
| Neck Injury Risk |
27% |
29% |
| Neck Compression |
18 lbs. |
56 lbs. |
|
|
Passenger |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Chest Compression |
.4 inches |
.4 inches |
| Neck Compression |
25 lbs. |
51 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 XC90 is safer than the Chrysler Pacifica:
|
|
XC90 |
Pacifica |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
51 |
72 |
| Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
1 inches |
| Hip Force |
255 lbs. |
395 lbs. |
|
|
Rear Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Spine Acceleration |
40 G’s |
54 G’s |
| Hip Force |
608 lbs. |
764 lbs. |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Max Damage Depth |
12 inches |
13 inches |
| HIC |
209 |
293 |
| Spine Acceleration |
29 G’s |
50 G’s |
| Hip Force |
383 lbs. |
616 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the XC90 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 29 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Pacifica has not been fully tested, yet.