The Escalade-V’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Cayenne doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
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 Escalade-V are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Cayenne doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Escalade-V has standard Reverse Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Cayenne doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Escalade-V’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Cayenne.
The Escalade-V has a standard blind spot warning system which 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 Cayenne’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Escalade-V has a standard rear cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Rear cross-path warning costs extra on the Cayenne.
Both the Escalade-V and the Cayenne have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights and rearview cameras.
The Cadillac Escalade-V weighs 542 to 1825 pounds more than the Porsche Cayenne. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.