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 i7 are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Taycan doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The i7 has standard Active Front Headrests, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Active Front Headrests system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Taycan doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The i7 has standard PostCrash iBrake, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Taycan 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 i7 has standard Active Park Distance Control that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Taycan doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, Full-Time Four-Wheel Drive is standard on the i7. But it costs extra on the Taycan.
The i7 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 and moves the vehicle back into its lane. A system to reveal vehicles in the Taycan’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the i7 has standard Cross Traffic Warning and automatically engage the brakes. Porsche charges extra for rear cross-path warning on the Taycan.
The i7’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 Taycan doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the i7 and the Taycan have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, 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 available around view monitors.
The BMW i7 weighs 718 to 1351 pounds more than the Porsche Taycan. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.