For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Sentra 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 Hyundai Elantra N Line doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Nissan Sentra has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Elantra N Line doesn’t offer knee airbags.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Sentra has standard Rear Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Elantra N Line doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.
The Sentra SV/SR offers an optional Around View® Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Elantra N Line only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.
Both the Sentra and the Elantra N Line have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact 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, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available daytime running lights.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Nissan Sentra is safer than the Hyundai Elantra N Line:
|
Sentra |
Elantra N Line |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
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 Sentra is safer than the Hyundai Elantra N Line:
|
Sentra |
Elantra N Line |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
1.1 inches |
1.2 inches |
Abdominal Force |
196 lbs. |
239 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
160 |
345 |
Spine Acceleration |
45 G’s |
68 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
160 |
184 |
Spine Acceleration |
36 G’s |
40 G’s |
Hip Force |
660 lbs. |
954 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.