The XC40’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Bronco doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Volvo XC40 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 Ford Bronco doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
Both the XC40 and Bronco have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The XC40 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 Bronco’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 Volvo XC40 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 Bronco doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The XC40 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 Bronco doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The XC40 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 Bronco doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The XC40’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Bronco.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the XC40 has standard Cross Traffic Alert and Braking Intervention automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Ford charges extra for Cross Traffic Alert on the Bronco and the Bronco’s Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.
For better protection of the passenger compartment, the XC40 uses safety cell construction with a three-dimensional high-strength frame that surrounds the passenger compartment. It provides extra impact protection and a sturdy mounting location for door hardware and side impact beams. The Bronco uses a body-on-frame design, which has no frame members above the floor of the vehicle.
Both the XC40 and the Bronco have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, rearview cameras and available around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Volvo XC40 is safer than the Ford Bronco:
|
XC40 |
Bronco |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Stress |
209 lbs. |
364 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Stress |
156 lbs. |
158 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
66 lbs. |
98 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rates the general design of front seat head restraints for their ability to protect front seat occupants from whiplash injuries. The IIHS also performs a dynamic test on those seats with “good” or “acceptable” geometry. In these ratings, the XC40 is safer than the Bronco:
|
XC40 |
Bronco |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Head Restraint Design |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Distance from Back of Head |
6 mm |
20 mm |
Dynamic Test Rating |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Seat Design |
Pass |
Pass |
Torso Acceleration |
11 g’s |
13.8 g’s |
Neck Force Rating |
Low |
Medium |
Max Neck Shearing Force |
64 |
132 |
Max Neck Tension |
236 |
770 |
(Lower numerical results are better in all tests.)
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the XC40, with its four-star roll-over rating, is 10.1% less likely to roll over than the Bronco, which received a three-star rating.
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 the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2017, a rating granted to only 207 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Bronco was not even a “Top Safety Pick” for 2016.