For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Altima 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 Honda Accord doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Altima AWD offers all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Accord doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The Altima SL/SR VC-Turbo has a standard Intelligent Around View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Accord 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 Altima 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 Accord Sport 2.0T/EX/EX-L/Touring offers a blind spot warning system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Altima has standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert, helping the driver avoid collisions. Only the Accord Sport 2.0T/EX-L/Touring offers Cross Traffic Monitor.
Both the Altima and the Accord have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, 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, rearview cameras and driver alert monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Nissan Altima is safer than the Honda Accord:
|
Altima |
Accord |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
171 |
261 |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
114/342 lbs. |
231/338 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 Nissan Altima is safer than the Honda Accord:
|
Altima |
Accord |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
185 |
386 |
Spine Acceleration |
46 G’s |
62 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
157 |
242 |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.