Rollover protection. Within just a quarter of a second of the vehicle exceeding a predefined transverse acceleration or tilt angle, the cabriolet's rollover protection system shoots up behind the rear headrests. The system's two rollover modules consist of one fixed aluminium profile and one moveable aluminium profile within it that is pretensioned by a spring. The inner profile is held in its rest position by a magnetic switch or solenoid. When triggered by the airbag controller in reaction to an impending rollover, the solenoid opens a holding detent and releases the inner profile. While it shoots up, a support detent runs over a toothed track mounted to the inner profile and prevents the inner profile from dropping back down.
Rear seat backrest can be folded down. The construction of the two deployable modules was made significantly more compact, and so – despite the deployable rollover protection - it became possible to implement a load-through provision similar to that in the new Beetle Cabriolet with a width of 526 mm and a height of 381 mm as well as folding rear backrests.
Body reinforcements: All Golf cabriolets offer maximum all-round safety thanks to its rollover protection system, a reinforced windscreen frame and numerous other structural modifications (underbody, side panels, crossmembers, doors). Its numerous reinforcements also give the 4,266 mm long, 1,782 mm wide and (top up) 1,405 mm high Golf R Cabriolet extremely high torsional rigidity values. In front, the cabriolet has an engine enclosure made of aluminium, and together with its mounting brackets this increases rigidity. In addition, the engine mount acts as a vibration damper to reduce noise at the front of the car. On each side of the car, two lateral reinforcements in the sill area and two diagonal braces, front and rear, as well as the reinforced rear subframe joint lead to further gains in rigidity and a significant reduction in resonant body vibrations. What is referred to as the coefficient of static torsional rigidity reaches a value of over 13,500 Newton metres per degree; the first resonant torsional frequency lies above 17.5 Hz – first-class for a convertible.
Cabriolet-specific airbags: The protective systems are completed by reinforcements in the doors and standard front and side head-thorax airbags. The latter are specially designed for a cabriolet, since it is of course impossible to mount side head airbags in the roof area. The head-thorax airbags integrated in the lateral sections of the seatbacks therefore deploy next to the driver and front passenger over the entire interior height of the Golf Cabriolet. A standard knee airbag has also been incorporated on the driver's side. In conjunction with the safety belt, this airbag absorbs energy from the pelvic area and the legs, which leads to reduced occupant loading.
Notes:
TDI, TSI, DSG and Twincharger are registered trademarks of Volkswagen AG or other companies of the Volkswagen Group in Germany and other countries.
Features and technical data apply to models offered in Germany. They may differ in other countries.