For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda Civic Type R 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 Toyota GR86 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Honda Civic Type R 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 Toyota GR86 doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
The Honda Civic Type R 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 GR86 doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the Civic Type R deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The Civic Type R’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The GR86’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
The Civic Type R 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. Only the GR86 Premium/TRUENO offers a blind spot warning system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Civic Type R has standard Cross Traffic Monitor, helping the driver avoid collisions. Only the GR86 Premium/TRUENO offers Rear Cross Traffic Alert.
Both the Civic Type R and the GR86 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, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and driver alert monitors.