For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Nissan Kicks Play 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 Play has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags help 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.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Kicks Play has standard Rear Automatic Braking that use rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. The Trax doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Kicks Play 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 Play has standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Rear Automatic Braking automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Chevrolet charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Trax and the Trax’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.
The Kicks Play SV/SR’s 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 Play and the Trax have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, lane departure warning systems and rearview cameras.
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 Nissan Kicks Play is safer than the Chevrolet Trax:
|
Kicks Play |
Trax |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
139 |
171 |
Chest Movement |
.9 inches |
1.2 inches |
Abdominal Force |
172 lbs. |
288 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
318 |
378 |
Spine Acceleration |
47 G’s |
68 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
12 inches |
13 inches |
HIC |
218 |
464 |
Spine Acceleration |
30 G’s |
54 G’s |
Hip Force |
535 lbs. |
733 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.