Both the Nautilus and Macan have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Nautilus 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 Macan’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 Nautilus are reminded to check the back seat. The Macan doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Nautilus has standard Reverse Brake Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Macan doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Nautilus 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. A system to reveal vehicles in the Macan’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Nautilus’ standard Cross-Traffic Alert uses sensors in the rear to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side and Rear Cross Traffic Braking automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. The Macan doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
The Nautilus’ 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 Macan doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Nautilus and the Macan have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and available all wheel drive.