To maximize occupant safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Bentley Continental GT have pretensioners to 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 GranCabrio doesn’t offer pretensioners.
The Continental GT’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The GranCabrio doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
The Bentley Continental GT 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 GranCabrio doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The Continental GT has standard front and rear seat side-impact airbags and head airbags, which act as a forgiving barrier between the passengers and the door. Combined with high-strength steel door beams this system increases protection from broadside collisions. The GranCabrio doesn't offer rear-seat side-impact airbags, only ones for front seat occupants.
The Continental GT has a standard Multi-collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The GranCabrio 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.
An active infrared night vision system optional on the Continental GT helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera and near-infrared lights to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The GranCabrio doesn’t offer a night vision system.
The Continental GT’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the GranCabrio.
The Continental GT has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. A system to reveal vehicles in the GranCabrio’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Continental GT has standard Reversing Traffic Warning and automatically engage the brakes. Maserati charges extra for Rear Cross Path on the GranCabrio and the GranCabrio’s Rear Cross Path does not include automatic braking.
Both the Continental GT and the GranCabrio have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights and rearview cameras.
The Bentley Continental GT weighs 1104 to 1494 pounds more than the Maserati GranCabrio. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.