For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Mazda 3 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 GR Corolla doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Mazda 3 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 GR Corolla doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Mazda 3 Turbo Premium Plus has standard Smart Brake Support that use rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. The GR Corolla doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Mazda 3 Turbo Premium Plus has a standard 360-Degree Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The GR Corolla 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 Mazda 3 and GR Corolla have Rear Cross Traffic Alert, but the Mazda 3 Turbo Premium Plus has Rear Cross Traffic Braking (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The GR Corolla’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Mazda 3 and the GR Corolla have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available all wheel drive.
The Mazda 3 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 a “Good” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test. The GR Corolla has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.