For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Mercedes AMG CLE 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 4 Series Coupe doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear 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 AMG CLE are reminded to check the back seat. The 4 Series Coupe doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The AMG CLE 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 4 Series Coupe doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the AMG CLE. But it costs extra on the 4 Series Coupe.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The AMG CLE has Car-to-X Communication, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The 4 Series Coupe doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure or other vehicles.
Both the AMG CLE and 4 Series Coupe have rear cross-traffic warning, but the AMG CLE has Active Brake Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The 4 Series Coupe’s Cross Traffic Warning doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the AMG CLE and the 4 Series Coupe have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available lane departure warning systems.
The Mercedes AMG CLE weighs 401 to 920 pounds more than the BMW 4 Series Coupe. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.