The S5’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The TLX doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the S5 and TLX have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The S5 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 TLX’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 S5 are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The TLX doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The S5 has a standard Secondary Collision Brake Assist, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The TLX 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 S5 has standard Maneuver Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The TLX doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the S5. But it costs extra on the TLX.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The S5 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The TLX doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
Both the S5 and TLX have rear cross-traffic warning, but the S5 has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The TLX’s Rear Cross Traffic Monitor doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the S5 and the TLX have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee 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, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.