For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Genesis G80 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 BMW 3 Series Sedan doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Genesis G80 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 BMW 3 Series Sedan doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
Both the G80 and 3 Series Sedan have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The G80 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 3 Series Sedan’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 G80 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 3 Series Sedan doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the G80. But it costs extra on the 3 Series Sedan.
The G80’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the 3 Series Sedan.
The G80 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 3 Series Sedan’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the G80 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist and automatically engage the brakes. BMW charges extra for Cross Traffic Warning on the 3 Series Sedan and the 3 Series Sedan’s Cross Traffic Warning does not include automatic braking.
Both the G80 and the 3 Series Sedan 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, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Genesis G80 is safer than the BMW 3 Series Sedan:
|
G80 |
3 Series Sedan |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
137 |
252 |
Neck Compression |
43 lbs. |
74 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
28/23 lbs. |
200/338 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
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 G80 is safer than the BMW 3 Series Sedan:
|
G80 |
3 Series Sedan |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
101 |
107 |
Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
.8 inches |
Abdominal Force |
174 lbs. |
179 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
94 |
305 |
Spine Acceleration |
24 G’s |
47 G’s |
Hip Force |
242 lbs. |
532 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
198 |
270 |
Spine Acceleration |
34 G’s |
39 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The Genesis G80 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 an “Acceptable” 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 3 Series Sedan has not yet been fully evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.