For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Rogue 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 Subaru Crosstrek doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Nissan Rogue 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 Crosstrek doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
The Rogue Platinum has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The Crosstrek doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
The Rogue SL/Platinum has a standard Around View® Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Crosstrek 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 Rogue 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 Crosstrek’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Rogue has standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert, helping the driver avoid collisions. Subaru charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Crosstrek and its not available on the Base/Manual.
Compared to metal, the Rogue’s plastic fuel tank can withstand harder, more intrusive impacts without leaking; this decreases the possibility of fire. The Subaru Crosstrek has a metal gas tank.
Both the Rogue and the Crosstrek have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras and available all wheel drive.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Nissan Rogue is safer than the Subaru Crosstrek:
|
Rogue |
Crosstrek |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
33% |
36% |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
70/234 lbs. |
252/363 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.6 inches |
.7 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
37% |
44.6% |
Neck Stress |
193 lbs. |
195 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 Rogue is safer than the Subaru Crosstrek:
|
Rogue |
Crosstrek |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
95 |
138 |
Chest Movement |
.4 inches |
.7 inches |
Abdominal Force |
99 lbs. |
196 lbs. |
Hip Force |
339 lbs. |
346 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
162 |
303 |
Spine Acceleration |
31 G’s |
58 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
13 inches |
13 inches |
HIC |
162 |
201 |
Hip Force |
398 lbs. |
824 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
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 Nissan Rogue is much safer than the Crosstrek:
|
Rogue |
Crosstrek |
Overall Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
POOR |
Structure |
GOOD |
POOR |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Neck Tension |
245 lbs. |
290 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Shoulder Deflection |
.94 in |
1.89 in |
Shoulder Force |
245 lbs. |
357 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
.94 in |
2.01 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
6 MPH |
10 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Pelvis Force |
803 lbs. |
1116 lbs. |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Torso |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Shoulder Deflection |
1.22 in |
2.09 in |
Shoulder Force |
379 lbs. |
424 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
.87 in |
1.69 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
7 MPH |
13 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Pelvis Force |
535 lbs. |
825 lbs. |
For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, and daytime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Rogue the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2023, a rating granted to only 85 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Crosstrek last would have qualified as a “Top Safety Pick” in 2022.