For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volkswagen ID.4 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 ID.4’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 ID.4 and Bolt EUV have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The ID.4 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 ID.4 has a standard Automatic Post-Collision Braking System, which automatically applies 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 ID.4 has standard Maneuver Braking 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 ID.4 Pro has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Bolt EUV doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The ID.4 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 and moves the vehicle back into its lane. 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 ID.4 has standard Rear Traffic Alert and automatically engage the brakes. 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 ID.4’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 ID.4 and the Bolt EUV have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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 Volkswagen ID.4 weighs 602 to 1197 pounds more than the Chevrolet Bolt EUV. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Volkswagen ID.4 is safer than the Chevrolet Bolt EUV:
|
ID.4 |
Bolt EUV |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
18% |
24% |
Neck Stress |
189 lbs. |
246 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
8 lbs. |
17 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
39/39 lbs. |
104/185 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, results indicate that the Volkswagen ID.4 is safer than the Chevrolet Bolt EUV:
|
ID.4 |
Bolt EUV |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.8 inches |
1 inches |
Abdominal Force |
128 lbs. |
158 lbs. |
Hip Force |
356 lbs. |
386 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
125 |
222 |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The Volkswagen ID.4 achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Bolt EUV has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.