For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda Civic Si 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 Toyota Corolla doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Civic Si are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Corolla doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Honda Civic Si 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 Corolla doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the Civic Si deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The Civic Si’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Corolla’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
The Civic Si 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 Corolla’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Civic Si has standard Rear Cross Traffic Monitor, helping the driver avoid collisions. Toyota charges extra for Rear Cross-Traffic Alert on the Corolla.
Both the Civic Si and the Corolla have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, 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 driver alert monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Honda Civic Si is safer than the Toyota Corolla:
|
Civic Si |
Corolla |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Stress |
241 lbs. |
243 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
23 lbs. |
50 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
189/372 lbs. |
330/310 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH moderate front offset crash tests on new cars. In this updated test, results indicate that the Civic Si is safer than the Corolla:
|
Civic Si |
Corolla |
Overall Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
MARGINAL |
Structure |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Chest Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Thigh/hip Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Leg/foot Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Restraints |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Rear Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Chest Rating |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Thigh Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
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 Honda Civic Si is safer than the Toyota Corolla:
|
Civic Si |
Corolla |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
.9 inches |
Hip Force |
286 lbs. |
330 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
12 inches |
12 inches |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.