For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volvo XC40 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 Jeep Compass doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
Both the XC40 and Compass have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The XC40 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 Compass’ 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 XC40 has standard Post-impact braking, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Compass 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 XC40 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 Compass doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
Both the XC40 and Compass have rear cross-traffic warning, but the XC40 has Braking Intervention (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Compass’ Rear Cross Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the XC40 and the Compass have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Volvo XC40 is safer than the Jeep Compass:
|
XC40 |
Compass |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
30% |
41% |
Neck Stress |
209 lbs. |
445 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
25 lbs. |
38 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
361/380 lbs. |
326/489 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.5 inches |
.8 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
31% |
36% |
Neck Stress |
156 lbs. |
235 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
66 lbs. |
92 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 and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Volvo XC40 is safer than the Jeep Compass:
|
XC40 |
Compass |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
78 |
102 |
Hip Force |
320 lbs. |
335 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
48 G’s |
56 G’s |
Hip Force |
755 lbs. |
928 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
237 |
355 |
Spine Acceleration |
33 G’s |
39 G’s |
Hip Force |
411 lbs. |
663 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
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 Volvo XC40 is safer than the Compass:
|
XC40 |
Compass |
Overall Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
MARGINAL |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
129 |
189 |
Torso |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Pelvis Force |
1182 lbs. |
1517 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Neck Compression |
89 lbs. |
223 lbs. |
Torso |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
1.1 in |
2.13 in |
Shoulder Force |
290 lbs. |
491 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
1.5 in |
1.77 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
10 MPH |
14 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Pelvis Force |
692 lbs. |
937 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the XC40, with its four-star roll-over rating, is 4.9% less likely to roll over than the Compass, which received a three-star rating.