For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volvo EX40 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 MINI SE Countryman doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The EX40’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Volvo EX40 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 MINI SE Countryman doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
Both the EX40 and SE Countryman have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The EX40 Ultra 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 SE Countryman’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 EX40 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 SE Countryman doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests front crash prevention systems. With a score of 6 points, IIHS rates the City Safety in the EX40 as “Superior.” The SE Countryman scores only 3 points and is rated only “Advanced.”
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The EX40 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 SE Countryman doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the EX40’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
The EX40 Plus/Ultra has a standard 360-Degree Surround View Camera to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The SE Countryman only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
The EX40’s blind spot warning system uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer a system to reveal objects in the driver’s blind spots.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the EX40’s standard Cross Traffic Alert uses sensors in the rear to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side and Braking Intervention automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
Both the EX40 and the SE Countryman have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and driver alert monitors.
The Volvo EX40 weighs 527 to 753 pounds more than the MINI SE Countryman. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.