For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the GMC Yukon 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 Land Rover Discovery doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
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 Yukon are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Discovery doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Yukon 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 Discovery doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Yukon has standard Reverse Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Discovery doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the Yukon Ultimate helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The Discovery doesn’t offer a night vision system.
Both the Yukon and the Discovery have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, 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, around view monitors, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and driver alert monitors.
The GMC Yukon weighs 457 to 1079 pounds more than the Land Rover Discovery. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.