The X5 M’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Grecale 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 X5 M are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Grecale doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The X5 M has standard Active Head Restraints, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Active Head Restraints system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Grecale doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The X5 M has a standard PostCrash iBrake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Grecale 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.
The X5 M’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 Grecale.
The X5 M has a standard blind spot warning system that 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 Grecale’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the X5 M has standard Cross Traffic Warning with Braking and automatically engage the brakes. Maserati charges extra for Rear Cross Path on the Grecale and the Grecale’s Rear Cross Path does not include automatic braking.
Both the X5 M and the Grecale 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, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, rearview cameras and available around view monitors.
The BMW X5 M weighs 986 to 1149 pounds more than the Maserati Grecale. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.