The GV70’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Rav4 doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the GV70 and Rav4 have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The GV70 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 Rav4’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 GV70 are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Rav4 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The GV70 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 Rav4 doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the GV70 deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The GV70’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Rav4’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the GV70. But it costs extra on the Rav4.
The GV70 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 Rav4’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the GV70 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist and automatically engage the brakes. Toyota charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Rav4.
Both the GV70 and the Rav4 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, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.
The Genesis GV70 weighs 635 to 1213 pounds more than the Toyota Rav4. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH moderate front offset crash tests on new cars. In this updated test, results indicate that the GV70 is much safer than the Rav4:
|
GV70 |
Rav4 |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Structure |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
148 |
307 |
Chest Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Thigh/hip Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Leg/foot Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Restraints |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Rear Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Chest Rating |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Thigh Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Restraints |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Genesis GV70 is safer than the Rav4:
|
GV70 |
Rav4 |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Structure |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
57 |
120 |
Neck Compression |
-67 lbs. |
67 lbs. |
Pelvis |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Pelvis Force |
959 lbs. |
1093 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
130 |
542 |
Head Peak Forces |
no contact |
104 G’s |
Neck Tension |
67 lbs. |
312 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
-89 lbs. |
223 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Shoulder Deflection |
.43 in |
.94 in |
Shoulder Force |
178 lbs. |
290 lbs. |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
The Genesis GV70 (built after April 2024) has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2024 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned a “Good” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, and an “Acceptable” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test. The Rav4 was last only a “Top Safety Pick” in 2023 but no longer qualifies.