Both the E-Pace and GLA have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The E-Pace has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The GLA’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the E-Pace deploy with different levels of force to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The E-Pace’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The GLA’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the E-Pace. But it costs extra on the GLA.
The E-Pace’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 GLA.
Both the E-Pace and the GLA have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.
The Jaguar E-Pace weighs 431 to 541 pounds more than the Mercedes GLA. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.