For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Mercedes AMG CLA have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Honda Civic Type R doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The AMG CLA’s optional pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Civic Type R doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
The Mercedes AMG CLA has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Civic Type R doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The AMG CLA’s standard pretensioning seatbelts also sense rear collisions and remove slack from the seatbelts to help protect the occupants from whiplash and other injuries. The Civic Type R doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The AMG CLA offers an optional Post Collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Civic Type R 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 AMG CLA has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Civic Type R doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The AMG CLA offers an optional Surround View System to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Civic Type R only offers a rear monitor.
Both the AMG CLA and Civic Type R have rear cross-traffic warning, but the AMG CLA has Active Brake Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Civic Type R’s Cross Traffic Monitor doesn’t automatically brake.
The AMG CLA’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 Civic Type R doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
The AMG CLA has standard Mercedes-Benz Emergency Call, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a cellular system to remotely unlock your doors if you lock your keys in, help track down your vehicle if it’s stolen or send emergency personnel to the scene if any airbags deploy. The Civic Type R doesn’t offer a GPS response system, only a navigation computer with no live response for emergencies, so if you’re involved in an accident and you’re incapacitated help may not come as quickly.
Both the AMG CLA and the Civic Type R have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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 and available lane departure warning systems.
The Mercedes AMG CLA weighs 515 to 605 pounds more than the Honda Civic Type R. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts. Crosswinds also affect lighter cars more.