2008 Nissan Pathfinder Safety Review

• Overall
• Performance
• Exterior
• Interior
• Safety
• Reliability
• Specs
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Safety - What the Auto Press Says

The 2008 Nissan Pathfinder does well in federal government crash tests. Edmunds notes that "Safety wasn't overlooked either," and this is evident by the fact that all safety equipment comes standard on the LE model.

The Pathfinder gets four out of five stars for both driver and passenger safety in frontal crash tests. In side crash tests, it gets top scores of five stars for front seat and rear seat protection. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gives the 2008 Pathfinder its top score of "Good" in both frontal offset and side impact tests.

Accident Avoidance

The new Pathfinder comes standard with a host of safety equipment, including ABS (Anti-lock braking), a tire-pressure monitoring system, Electronic Brake force Distribution and Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC). San Francisco Chronicle describes VDC as "the stability system that keeps you from getting into too much trouble when you suddenly hit the brakes and swerve to avoid hitting a child."

The SE Off Road model also comes with Hill Start Assist, which keeps the vehicle from rolling backward, and Hill Descent Control, which "uses a combination of braking and engine speed to keep the rig from flying down the hill like an out-of-control ski racer who has missed a couple of slalom gates," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Crash Protection

To protect occupants in a crash, the Pathfinder features the Nissan Advanced Airbag System (AABS) with dual-stage supplemental front air bags with seat belt sensors and an occupant-classification sensor. Driver and front-passenger seat-mounted side-impact supplemental air bags as well as roof-mounted curtain supplemental air bags for all three rows are standard on the LE model and optional on the others as part of the Side Air Bags Package. The Pathfinder also provides Zone Body construction with front and rear crumple zones, an energy-absorbing steering column, and pipe-style steel side-door guard beams.