For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volkswagen Golf R 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 Ford Mustang doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Volkswagen Golf R 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 Ford Mustang doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
The Golf R’s standard pretensioning seatbelts also sense rear collisions and remove slack from the seatbelts to help protect the occupants from whiplash and other injuries. The Mustang doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The Golf R has a standard Automatic Post-Collision Braking System, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Mustang 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 Golf R has standard Maneuver Braking that use rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. The Mustang doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Golf R has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Mustang doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The Golf R has standard Park Distance Control to help warn the driver about vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles behind or in front of their vehicle. The Mustang doesn’t offer a front parking aid.
Both the Golf R and Mustang have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Golf R has Rear Traffic Alert (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Mustang’s Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Golf R and the Mustang have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, 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 and driver alert monitors.
A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Volkswagen Golf R is safer than the Mustang Fastback:
|
|
Golf R |
Mustang |
| Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
| Restraints |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
| Head Neck Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Head injury index |
118 |
147 |
| Peak Head Forces |
0 G’s |
0 G’s |
| Steering Column Movement Rearward |
0 cm |
5 cm |
| Chest Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Hip & Thigh Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Hip & Thigh Injury Risk R/L |
0%/0% |
0%/0% |
| Lower Leg Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Tibia index R/L |
.29/.3 |
.74/.66 |
| Tibia forces R/L |
1.5/1.1 kN |
3.3/2.5 kN |
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Golf R its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 128 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Mustang is not even a standard “Top Safety Pick.”