For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Mercedes E-Class Sedan 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 Alfa Romeo Giulia doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The E-Class Sedan’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Giulia doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Mercedes E-Class Sedan are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The Alfa Romeo Giulia doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
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 E-Class Sedan are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Giulia doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The E-Class Sedan 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 Giulia 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.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The E-Class Sedan has a standard Maneuvering Brake Function that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Giulia doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the E-Class Sedan. But it costs extra on the Giulia.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The E-Class Sedan has Car-to-X Communication, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The Giulia doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure or other vehicles.
The E-Class Sedan has a standard Surround View System to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Giulia only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
Both the E-Class Sedan and Giulia have rear cross-traffic warning, but the E-Class Sedan has Active Brake Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Giulia’s Rear Cross-Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the E-Class Sedan and the Giulia have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee 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 E-Class Sedan weighs 557 to 855 pounds more than the Alfa Romeo Giulia. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.