For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volkswagen Golf R 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 BMW M2 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Volkswagen Golf R 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 BMW M2 doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
The Golf R’s standard pretensioning seatbelts also sense rear collisions and remove slack from the seatbelts to help protect the occupants from whiplash and other injuries. The M2 doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The Golf R has a standard Automatic Post-Collision Braking System, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The M2 doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Golf R has standard Maneuver Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The M2 doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Golf R has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The M2 doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The Golf R’s blind spot warning system 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. The M2 doesn’t offer a system to reveal objects in the driver’s blind spots.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Golf R’s standard rear cross-path warning system uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. The M2 doesn’t offer a cross-path warning system.
Both the Golf R and the M2 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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 and driver alert monitors.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Golf R its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 81 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The M2 has not been tested, yet.