For enhanced safety, the front and second-row seat shoulder belts of the Genesis GV80 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 Cadillac XT5 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
Both the GV80 and XT5 have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The GV80 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 XT5’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.
The GV80 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 XT5 doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
The GV80 offers an optional Multi-Collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The XT5 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.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the GV80. But it costs extra on the XT5.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the GV80’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The XT5 doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
The GV80 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. Only the XT5 Premium Luxury/Sport offers a blind spot warning system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the GV80 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist and automatically engage the brakes. Only the XT5 Premium Luxury/Sport offers Rear Cross Traffic Alert and the XT5’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.
The GV80’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 XT5 doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the GV80 and the XT5 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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 and available around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Genesis GV80 is safer than the Cadillac XT5:
|
|
GV80 |
XT5 |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
29 |
112 |
| Chest Movement |
.5 inches |
.9 inches |
| Abdominal Force |
101 lbs. |
151 lbs. |
|
|
Rear Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
70 |
183 |
| Spine Acceleration |
26 G’s |
43 G’s |
| Hip Force |
458 lbs. |
825 lbs. |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
290 |
399 |
| Hip Force |
640 lbs. |
799 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The Genesis GV80 (built after August 2023) 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 XT5 is not even a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.