For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Toyota Land Cruiser 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 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Land Cruiser’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Atlas Cross Sport doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
The Toyota Land Cruiser 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 Atlas Cross Sport doesn’t offer knee airbags.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, Full-Time Four-Wheel Drive is standard on the Land Cruiser. But it costs extra on the Atlas Cross Sport.
The Toyota Land Cruiser offers an optional Multi-Terrain Monitor and it also offers an optional rear camera washer to make backing always safe, regardless of road dirt or grime, while the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport doesn’t offer a camera washer, requiring manual cleaning.
The Land Cruiser’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 Atlas Cross Sport doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Land Cruiser and the Atlas Cross Sport have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.
The Toyota Land Cruiser weighs 1015 to 1274 pounds more than the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Toyota Land Cruiser is safer than the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport:
|
Land Cruiser |
Atlas Cross Sport |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
238 |
277 |
Chest Compression |
.7 inches |
.7 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
38.5% |
39% |
Neck Compression |
84 lbs. |
117 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, results indicate that the Toyota Land Cruiser is safer than the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport:
|
Land Cruiser |
Atlas Cross Sport |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
25 |
48 |
Chest Movement |
.3 inches |
.5 inches |
Hip Force |
109 lbs. |
215 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
19 |
208 |
Spine Acceleration |
20 G’s |
35 G’s |
Hip Force |
217 lbs. |
529 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.