Airbags, side canopies, stability management, roll prevention, and traction control are all standard-fare inclusions for most vehicles, regardless of brand, model, or trim type. What becomes a little more gated are features tied to driver assistance and automated aids in the active safety department: radar, sensors, braking, parking, and collision mitigation features. It’s easy to appreciate a lot of the more complex safety features made available for most higher-tier trims on vehicles these days because of how useful they are and what value they provide for a vehicle. For many vehicles, however, the more advanced safety features are locked behind upper-end trims or select dealer-offered packages. However, in the case of the 2024 Nissan Kicks, it’s a surprisingly robust subcompact regarding safety, especially compared to some of its segment rivals.
When you look at what it has to offer as standard features and where it sits as far as the price range is concerned – whether you’re looking at a Nissan Kicks for sale near you or just interested in what the vehicle has to offer – the most significant thing about the model is that it offers many standard safety measures that others have relegated behind mid-tier, performance-oriented, or luxury model variants. It creates a unique dynamic for where the Kicks sits in the market and what it offers in the safety department. In some ways, it puts many of its segment rivals to shame, and in other ways, it highlights how some companies prioritize safety over other features first and foremost.
Noteworthy Basic Safety Features of the Kicks
Before getting into the more niche safety inclusions, there are a number of basic safety features that come with the 2024 Nissan Kicks, courtesy of its Nissan Safety Shield 360. This includes many of the standard safety measures many have come to expect from today’s modern SUVs, such as Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection and Rear Automatic Braking. You also have intelligent brake assistance, High Beam Assist, and Hill Start Assist without the need for secondary packages to access these features. The standard safety is then topped off with a Low Tire Pressure Warning, Cruise Control, and even Lane Departure Warning, regardless of which trim you select. It is available in three trims: the S, SV, and SR.
Higher-End Standard Safety for Economy Class Trims?
The Nissan Kicks has prided itself on being an economy-class subcompact SUV, a starter vehicle for solo drivers or those just getting their feet wet with a small family. Typically, these kinds of vehicles do not come with very robust safety suites since you need to either purchase a separate safety package to gain access to more robust driver aids and automated active assistance technologies or you need to move up the trim line to attain other standard safety features.
With the 2024 model, the interesting thing about it is that it comes with quite a few features that are not standard on entry-level trims offered by competitors. This is thanks to the Nissan Safety Shield 360, a comprehensive collection of standard safety features available across Nissan’s vehicular line-up. It’s a rival to other safety suites such as the Honda Sensing technology, the Ford Co-Pilot360, and the GM Safety Assist, to name but a few.
A really good example of Nissan bucking trends is blind-spot monitoring. This feature is typically reserved for higher-end trims on other vehicles, such as the Chevy Trailblazer, Kia Soul, or Honda HR-V. In those cases, blind-spot monitoring is not available for economy-class trims. This is also true for many other vehicles, where blind-spot monitoring requires a separate package or a higher-tier model, but is standard on pretty much all luxury-oriented nameplates. A good example is the Buick Enclave or the BMW X1, both of which come standard with active blind-spot monitoring on all the available trims, but obviously both vehicles have starting prices that are nearly twice as much as the aforementioned Nissan SUV.
Hence, you might be shocked to find that this feature is standard on the S trim right out of the gate. It seems like an unheard-of tactic by an automotive company with such a low-priced starting MSRP. It’s almost like Nissan is purposely trying to buck trends, and that’s because, in many ways, it is. Nissan is making it a very rare entry in the very crowded yet constantly evolving SUV segment to offer something that is a standard only on premium-priced models, which is quite rare.
Cross-Traffic Alerts and Why It’s Important for the Kicks S Model
Blind-spot monitoring isn’t usually a standalone safety feature; it’s often packaged with another very important driver alert system, Cross-Traffic Alert. This ties in perfectly with blind-spot monitoring because while the sonar monitors vehicles in your blind spot, the Cross-Traffic Alert will give you a heads-up and alert the driver when attempting to change lanes or someone is attempting to change lanes in your blind spot and get too close to the vehicle. Much like blind-spot monitoring, Cross-Traffic Alerts is often bundled in safety packages for lower-end trims of specific models, such as the GMC Pro Safety Plus package or the Convenience Package available for Toyota models – both of which add blind spot monitoring and cross-traffic alerts.
With the Nissan Kicks, the S trim comes standard with Cross-Traffic Alert right from the get-go. That’s a unique challenge that Nissan managed to overcome for the price point. Basically, no matter which trim you go with, you get Blind Spot Warning and Cross-Traffic Alert together. So, while you have to pay extra for it on other entry-level trims for subcompact SUVs or get it standard on higher-end nameplates from companies like Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, or Porsche, you get these features right out of the gate for the Kicks.
It creates a unique juxtaposition in the marketplace for being positioned as a starter vehicle and how Nissan has anchored it into a role that utilizes the Nissan Safety Shield 360 to put safety first across a number of facets, which includes active driver assistance such as Blind Spot Warning and Cross-Traffic Alert.
The Importance of Rear Sonar and Parking Assistance
The Nissan Kicks also manages to sneak in yet another noteworthy feature that the Cross-Traffic Alert is anchored to, along with parking assistance: Rear Parking Sensors. The sensors enable multiple features to work in concert with the Nissan Safety Shield 360, including features like the Intelligent Around View monitoring system, the aforementioned Blind Spot Warning and Cross Traffic-Alert, as well as the parking assistance system. All of these are made possible thanks to features like the Rear Parking Sensors, which can help detect pedestrians and objects directly behind the vehicle.
This system enables drivers to effectively receive audible warnings and visual feedback on the position of the vehicle. This helps with parking the vehicle in both common and difficult spots. This also works with the Rear Collision System, which is either not present on some other competing subcompacts or optional only as part of extra safety packages or on higher-end trims. This is quite a feature for the Kicks because it adds a lot to the vehicle’s safety features and driving aids, even with the base trim.
With Nissan including these more premium safety features as part of the base offerings for the entry-level Kicks, it adds an extra sense of security for purchasing a vehicle like this not only for commuting and daily driving, but also as a potential vehicle for a teen learning how to drive. It’s a cost-effective and feature-rich way to introduce a young driver while ensuring they have all the tools necessary to drive safely on the road. This is all thanks to Nissan future-proofing it with standard safety features like Rear Parking Sensors, Blind Spot Warning, and Cross-Traffic Alert being embedded into the subcompact’s offerings right from the start.
How Important Are Standard Safety Features in an Entry-Level Trim?
The Nissan Kicks has managed to position itself in quite the spot. It’s an economy-class, entry-level subcompact that has a surprisingly robust number of embedded safety features in its base trim. From the S to the SV to the SR, you get a lot of standard driver assist and active safety aids that some other competing subcompacts don’t offer. As a starter platform, it trumps some of its more expensive competitors by offering safety measures that you otherwise wouldn’t have access to on a standard trim without paying double.
In that regard, for those looking for a Nissan Kicks for sale for the sake of something with good gas mileage and plenty of driver aids, it manages to fulfill those roles that even some more expensive base trims from rival competitors don’t manage to do without paying extra. It gives this standout model a very unique identity in the very crowded SUV space, but a well-warranted one nonetheless.
