For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Ford Escape FHEV 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 Buick Envista doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Ford Escape FHEV are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The Buick Envista doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
The Ford Escape FHEV has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Envista doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The Escape FHEV has standard Post Collision Braking, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Envista doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Escape FHEV offers an optional Reverse Brake Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Envista doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Escape FHEV offers all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Envista doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The Escape FHEV offers an optional 360-Degree Camera to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Envista 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 Escape FHEV has standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Rear Cross Traffic Braking automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Buick charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Envista and the Envista’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.
The Escape FHEV’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 Envista doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Escape FHEV and the Envista have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems and rearview cameras.
The Ford Escape FHEV weighs 404 to 656 pounds more than the Buick Envista. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts. Crosswinds also affect lighter cars more.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its available headlight’s “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Escape FHEV the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2022, a rating granted to only 163 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Envista has not been tested, yet.