For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Mercedes C-Class Sedan 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 Maserati Ghibli doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The C-Class Sedan’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Ghibli doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
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 C-Class Sedan are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Ghibli doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The C-Class Sedan 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 Ghibli doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
The C-Class Sedan has a standard Post Collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Ghibli doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The C-Class Sedan offers an optional Maneuvering Brake Function that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Ghibli doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The C-Class Sedan offers optional Car-to-X Communication, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The Ghibli doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure or other vehicles.
Both the C-Class Sedan and Ghibli have rear cross-traffic warning, but the C-Class Sedan has Active Brake Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Ghibli’s Rear Cross Path doesn’t automatically brake.
The C-Class Sedan’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Ghibli doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the C-Class Sedan and the Ghibli have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive, lane departure warning systems and around view monitors.
The Mercedes C-Class Sedan achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Ghibli has not yet been fully evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.