For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Kicks have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Chevrolet Trax doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Kicks 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 Chevrolet Trax doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
The Nissan Kicks 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 Trax doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The Kicks SR offers an optional front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The Trax doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
With its standard Autonomous Emergency Braking, the Nissan Kicks is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Chevrolet Trax, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
|
Kicks |
Trax |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
|
Crossing Child - DAY |
|
12 MPH |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
25 MPH |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
|
Crossing Adult - NIGHT |
|
12 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-2 MPH |
12 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-22 MPH |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-4 MPH |
|
Parallel Adult - NIGHT |
|
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
37 MPH Brights |
-27 MPH |
-11 MPH |
Warning Issued-Brights |
2.4 sec |
1.4 sec |
37 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-3 MPH |
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Kicks has standard Rear Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Trax doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Kicks offers all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Trax doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The Kicks SR has a standard Around View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Trax only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.
The Kicks 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 Trax’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Kicks has standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert, helping the driver avoid collisions. Chevrolet charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Trax.
The Kicks’ 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 Trax doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Kicks and the Trax have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems and rearview cameras.
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Nissan Kicks is safer than the Trax:
|
Kicks |
Trax |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Structure |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
158 |
476 |
Neck Tension |
268 lbs. |
379 lbs. |
Torso |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
1.02 in |
1.57 in |
Shoulder Force |
245 lbs. |
335 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
1.26 in |
1.5 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
6 MPH |
6 MPH |
Pelvis |
ACCEPTABLE |
MARGINAL |
Pelvis Force |
915 lbs. |
1227 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
182 |
424 |
Neck Tension |
112 lbs. |
134 lbs. |
Torso |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
1.5 in |
1.77 in |
Shoulder Force |
268 lbs. |
335 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
1.34 in |
1.57 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
6 MPH |
9 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Pelvis Force |
669 lbs. |
892 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
The Nissan Kicks 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 Trax is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.