For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Subaru Forester 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 Subaru Forester 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.
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 Forester are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Cooper Clubman doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Forester has standard Whiplash-Reducing Front Seats, which use a specially designed seat to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Whiplash-Reducing Front Seats system allows the backrest to travel backwards to cushion the occupants and the headrests move forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Cooper Clubman doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Forester (except Base/Premium) offers optional Reverse Automatic Braking that use rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. The Cooper Clubman doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Forester. But it costs extra on the Cooper Clubman.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Forester Premium/Sport/Wilderness/Limited/Touring’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Cooper Clubman doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
The Forester (except Base)’s optional 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 Forester (except Base)’s optional 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 Cooper Clubman doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
Both the Forester and the Cooper Clubman have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available rear parking sensors and driver alert monitors.
For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, and daytime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Forester the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2023, a rating granted to only 54 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Cooper Clubman has not been tested, yet.