For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Infiniti QX50 have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Buick Envista doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Infiniti QX50 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 Buick Envista doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
The Infiniti QX50 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 Envista doesn’t offer knee airbags.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The QX50 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 Envista doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The QX50 has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Envista doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The QX50 Sport has a standard Around View® Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Envista 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 QX50 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 and moves the vehicle back into its lane. A system to reveal vehicles in the Envista’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the QX50 has standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert, helping the driver avoid collisions. Buick charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Envista.
Both the QX50 and the Envista have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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.
The Infiniti QX50 weighs 842 to 979 pounds more than the Buick Envista. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts. Crosswinds also affect lighter cars more.
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 Infiniti QX50 is safer than the Envista:
|
QX50 |
Envista |
Overall Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
141 |
476 |
Neck Tension |
178 lbs. |
379 lbs. |
Torso |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
1.06 in |
1.57 in |
Shoulder Force |
178 lbs. |
335 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
57 |
424 |
Neck Tension |
45 lbs. |
134 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
89 lbs. |
134 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
.67 in |
1.77 in |
Shoulder Force |
201 lbs. |
335 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
1.42 in |
1.57 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
7 MPH |
9 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Pelvis Force |
402 lbs. |
892 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |