Both the Yukon XL and Navigator L have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Yukon XL 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 Navigator L’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 Yukon XL (except SLE with front bench seat) 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 Navigator L doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the Yukon XL 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 Navigator L doesn’t offer a night vision system.
Both the Yukon XL and Navigator L have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Yukon XL has Rear Cross Traffic Braking (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Navigator L’s Cross-Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Yukon XL and the Navigator L have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, 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 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the GMC Yukon XL is safer than the Lincoln Navigator L:
|
Yukon XL |
Navigator L |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
146 |
165 |
Neck Injury Risk |
23% |
32% |
Neck Stress |
312 lbs. |
361 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
51 lbs. |
147 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 GMC Yukon XL is safer than the Lincoln Navigator L:
|
Yukon XL |
Navigator L |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
118 lbs. |
180 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
24 G’s |
27 G’s |
Hip Force |
248 lbs. |
434 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
38 G’s |
47 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.