For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Acura Integra 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 Toyota Corolla 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 Integra are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Corolla doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Acura Integra 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 doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Integra offers an optional Low-Speed Braking Control that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Corolla doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Integra 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’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Integra has standard Rear Cross Traffic Monitor, helping the driver avoid collisions. Toyota charges extra for Rear Cross-Traffic Alert on the Corolla.
Both the Integra and the Corolla 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, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors and available rear parking sensors.
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 Acura Integra is safer than the Corolla:
|
Integra |
Corolla |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Structure |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Torso |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Torso Max Deflection |
1.26 in |
1.61 in |
Pelvis |
ACCEPTABLE |
MARGINAL |
Pelvis Force |
959 lbs. |
1339 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Shoulder Deflection |
1.02 in |
1.38 in |
Shoulder Force |
201 lbs. |
312 lbs. |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Pelvis Force |
602 lbs. |
1026 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Integra its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 29 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Corolla is only a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2023.