For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Infiniti QX55 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 Nissan Murano doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the QX55. But it costs extra on the Murano.
Both the QX55 and the Murano have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee 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, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Infiniti QX55 is safer than the Murano:
|
QX55 |
Murano |
Overall Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
MARGINAL |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
141 |
286 |
Neck Tension |
178 lbs. |
402 lbs. |
Torso |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
1.06 in |
1.65 in |
Shoulder Force |
178 lbs. |
290 lbs. |
Torso Deflection Rate |
9 MPH |
9 MPH |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
57 |
182 |
Neck Tension |
45 lbs. |
89 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
89 lbs. |
112 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |