For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volvo XC40 Recharge 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 Bolt EUV doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The XC40 Recharge’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Bolt EUV doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the XC40 Recharge and Bolt EUV have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The XC40 Recharge Ultimate has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Bolt EUV’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
The XC40 Recharge has a standard Whiplash Protection System (WHIPS), which use a specially designed seat to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the WHIPS allows the backrest to travel backwards to cushion the occupants and the headrests move forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. At the same time the pretensioning seatbelts fire, removing slack from the belts. The Bolt EUV doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The XC40 Recharge has standard Post-impact braking, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Bolt EUV 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 XC40 Recharge has a standard CTA Auto Brake that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Bolt EUV doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The XC40 Recharge Twin Motor has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Bolt EUV doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the XC40 Recharge’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Bolt EUV doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
The XC40 Recharge 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 Bolt EUV’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the XC40 Recharge has standard Cross Traffic Alert and Braking Intervention automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Chevrolet charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Bolt EUV and the Bolt EUV’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.
The XC40 Recharge’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 Bolt EUV doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the XC40 Recharge and the Bolt EUV have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and available around view monitors.
The Volvo XC40 Recharge weighs 738 to 999 pounds more than the Chevrolet Bolt EUV. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
For its top level performance in all IIHS frontal, side, rear impact and roof-crush tests, and its standard front crash prevention system, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the XC40 Recharge the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2017, a rating granted to only 207 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Bolt EUV has not been tested, yet.