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 Toyota Corolla Hatchback 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 Kicks are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Corolla Hatchback doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
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 Corolla Hatchback doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
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 Corolla Hatchback doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
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 Corolla Hatchback 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 Corolla Hatchback 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 Corolla Hatchback only offers a rear monitor.
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 Corolla Hatchback’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. Toyota charges extra for Rear Cross-Traffic Alert on the Corolla Hatchback.
Both the Kicks and the Corolla Hatchback 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, 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.
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 Corolla Hatchback:
|
Kicks |
Corolla Hatchback |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Structure |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Neck Compression |
67 lbs. |
134 lbs. |
Torso |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
1.02 in |
1.1 in |
Shoulder Force |
245 lbs. |
268 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
1.26 in |
1.61 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
6 MPH |
7 MPH |
Pelvis |
ACCEPTABLE |
MARGINAL |
Pelvis Force |
915 lbs. |
1339 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Shoulder Force |
268 lbs. |
312 lbs. |
Torso Deflection Rate |
6 MPH |
7 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Pelvis Force |
669 lbs. |
1026 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 Corolla Hatchback last would have qualified as a “Top Safety Pick” in 2023.