Both the GV80 and GLC have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The GV80 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 GLC’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.
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 GV80 are reminded to check the back seat when a sensor determines the back seat is occupied. The GLC doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The GV80 has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The GLC doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The GV80 offers optional Parking Collision-Avoidance Assist-Reverse that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The GLC doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the GV80. But it costs extra on the GLC.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the GV80’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The GLC doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
The GV80’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 GLC.
Both the GV80 and the GLC have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, 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 Genesis GV80 weighs 615 to 1323 pounds more than the Mercedes GLC. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Genesis GV80 is safer than the Mercedes GLC:
|
|
GV80 |
GLC |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
29 |
69 |
| Chest Movement |
.5 inches |
.9 inches |
| Abdominal Force |
101 lbs. |
117 lbs. |
| Hip Force |
293 lbs. |
409 lbs. |
|
|
Rear Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
70 |
134 |
| Spine Acceleration |
26 G’s |
46 G’s |
| Hip Force |
458 lbs. |
784 lbs. |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Hip Force |
640 lbs. |
787 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
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 GV80 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 128 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The GLC has not been fully tested, yet.