The A5’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Jetta GLI doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the A5 and Jetta GLI have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The A5 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 Jetta GLI’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.
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 A5 are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Jetta GLI doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Audi A5 has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags help prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Jetta GLI doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The A5 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 Jetta GLI doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
The A5 has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Jetta GLI doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The A5 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The Jetta GLI doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
The A5 offers an optional Top View Camera System to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Jetta GLI only offers a rear monitor.
The A5’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 Jetta GLI doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the A5 and the Jetta GLI have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras and rear cross-path warning.
The Audi A5 weighs 779 to 849 pounds more than the Volkswagen Jetta GLI. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.