For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Frontier 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 Chevrolet Colorado doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Nissan Frontier 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 Colorado doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The Frontier has standard Automatic Emergency Braking, which use forward mounted sensors to warn the driver of a possible collision ahead. If the driver doesn’t react and the system determines a collision is imminent, it automatically applies the brakes at full-force in order to reduce the force of the crash or avoid it altogether. The Colorado offers an available collision warning system without the automated brake feature that would prevent or reduce the collision if the driver fails to react.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Frontier offers optional Rear Automatic Braking that use rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. The Colorado doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Frontier PRO-X/PRO-4X offers an optional Around View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Colorado 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.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Frontier’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 Colorado doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
The Frontier’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 Colorado doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Frontier and the Colorado have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact 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, rearview cameras, available four-wheel drive, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems and blind spot warning systems.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Nissan Frontier is safer than the Chevrolet Colorado:
|
|
Frontier |
Colorado |
|
|
Passenger |
|
| STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
| Neck Injury Risk |
32% |
44.9% |
| Neck Stress |
258 lbs. |
300 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 Frontier is safer than the Chevrolet Colorado:
|
|
Frontier |
Colorado |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Chest Movement |
.9 inches |
1 inches |
| Abdominal Force |
170 lbs. |
203 lbs. |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Spine Acceleration |
44 G’s |
47 G’s |
| Hip Force |
674 lbs. |
716 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.