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 Odyssey are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Voyager doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the Odyssey deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The Odyssey’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Voyager’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
The Odyssey has a standard Whiplash Mitigation Front Seat Design, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Whiplash Mitigation Front Seat Design system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Voyager doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The Odyssey’s lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. The Voyager doesn’t offer a lane departure warning system.
The Odyssey Sport/Touring/Elite has standard Parking Sensors to help warn the driver about vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles behind or in front of their vehicle. The Voyager doesn’t offer a front parking aid.
The Odyssey 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. A system to reveal vehicles in the Voyager’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Odyssey has standard Cross Traffic Monitor, helping the driver avoid collisions. Chrysler charges extra for Rear Cross Path Detection on the Voyager.
The Odyssey’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 Voyager doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
The Odyssey Touring/Elite has standard HondaLink Assist, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a cellular system to send emergency personnel to the scene if any airbags deploy. The Voyager doesn’t offer a GPS response system, only a navigation computer with no live response for emergencies, so if you’re involved in an accident and you’re incapacitated help may not come as quickly.
Both the Odyssey and the Voyager have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights and rearview cameras.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Honda Odyssey is safer than the Chrysler Voyager:
|
Odyssey |
Voyager |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
27% |
29% |
Neck Stress |
184 lbs. |
230 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
18 lbs. |
56 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
95/82 lbs. |
75/194 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Stress |
101 lbs. |
117 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
324/302 lbs. |
440/251 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 Honda Odyssey is safer than the Chrysler Voyager:
|
Odyssey |
Voyager |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
66 |
72 |
Chest Movement |
.5 inches |
1 inches |
Abdominal Force |
83 lbs. |
149 lbs. |
Hip Force |
321 lbs. |
395 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
709 lbs. |
764 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
12 inches |
13 inches |
Spine Acceleration |
41 G’s |
50 G’s |
Hip Force |
472 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 Odyssey its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 29 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Voyager last would have qualified as only a standard “Top Safety Pick” in 2017.