GV80 Safety Checklist: What to Confirm Before I-24 and I-65

Nashville's interstate system asks more of a vehicle than a showroom floor ever lets on. The 2026 Genesis GV80 shows up well-prepared for that, carrying a standard suite of active safety systems that maps cleanly onto the specific demands of I-24 southeast toward Chattanooga and I-65 north and south through the metro. Use this checklist to confirm what's active, what's set correctly, and what to watch before you get on either corridor.

What Goes on the Checklist?

Run through every item below before any extended run on I-24 or I-65, because each one corresponds to a standard system that does genuine work on these two roads, from the Monteagle curves to the stop-and-go north of downtown. None of it is busywork.

• [ ] Highway Driving Assist 2 is switched on. Verify this in the driver-assistance menu before merging. HDA 2 maintains lane centering and a selected following distance simultaneously. On the long straight sections of I-65 through Brentwood and into Williamson County, it reduces the fatigue that builds across a routine commute.
• [ ] Smart Cruise Control speed is set for conditions, not the posted limit. Traffic density near the I-24/I-40/I-65 interchange (the Spaghetti Bowl) changes fast. Set your speed to match actual flow.
• [ ] Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist is confirmed active. Standard on every 2026 GV80 trim. It detects pedestrians and cyclists in addition to vehicles, which matters near on-ramps where merge behavior is unpredictable.
• [ ] Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist is on. On a 2.5T Select or higher, you also get the blind-spot camera feed in the instrument cluster when a turn signal is activated. Know which trim you have before assuming that visual feed is present.
• [ ] Lane Keeping Assist sensitivity is calibrated to your preference. On winding sections of I-24 between Nashville and Monteagle Mountain, the system's steering inputs come more frequently than on a straight highway. Adjust in the driver-assistance submenu before you need it.
• [ ] Safe Exit Assist is enabled. The system detects approaching traffic when a rear passenger reaches for the door handle, and it's worth confirming before any trip that includes stops at highway rest areas or service plazas, where traffic moves faster than rear passengers expect.
• [ ] Rear Seat Alert is active. Prompts a check of the rear cabin before you leave the vehicle. Standard across all trims, simple to verify in the settings panel.
• [ ] Driver Attention Warning is on. The system monitors steering input patterns and prompts rest breaks when it detects changes associated with fatigue. On the Nashville-to-Chattanooga run via I-24, that's roughly 135 miles with Monteagle Mountain partway through.
• [ ] Tire pressure reads normal on the dashboard. Pressure changes with temperature. Middle Tennessee's October swings between morning and afternoon can shift readings by several PSI. Check the display before a long run.
• [ ] AWD system shows no active fault indicators. The base 2.5T is available in either RWD or AWD configuration. If you're on an AWD-equipped GV80 and roads are wet, verify that no error indicators are present before committing to highway speed.
• [ ] Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist is active. Less relevant at highway speed, but worth confirming at the start of any trip that combines urban parking stops with extended interstate driving.

Understanding the Why Behind the Key Items

None of those checklist items is arbitrary; each one is shaped by what I-24 and I-65 actually do to drivers across a normal commute or a longer Tennessee run, which is a different thing from what a spec sheet promises in a quiet parking lot.

The Monteagle grade on I-24. The eastbound descent off Monteagle Mountain carries a 6% grade over roughly four miles, per data from the Federal Highway Administration and Tennessee DOT documentation. It drops 1,161 feet in elevation, with mandatory truck inspection stops that slow commercial traffic and create merge situations partway down. Highway Driving Assist 2 doesn't manage downhill speed independently (brake modulation remains the driver's responsibility), but it holds lane centering through the long sweeping curves that define that descent. On a grade like that, with slower heavy trucks mixed into the lanes, taking the steering workload off your plate counts for a lot, especially late in a long drive.

Westbound, the descent drops 778 feet over four miles with a pronounced C-shaped curve midway. That curve has a documented history of median contact events, most of them trucks running too fast for brake capacity. The GV80's Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist runs continuously through this section, monitoring closing distance as speeds and following gaps shift around you.

The Spaghetti Bowl and lane changes. The I-24/I-40/I-65 interchange is the metro's most compressed point of sudden lane changes. The GV70 handles this corridor well in its own right, but the GV80's longer wheelbase gives it a more planted feel through back-to-back merge sequences. Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist works actively here. It doesn't just alert; it applies corrective steering input if you begin moving into an occupied lane. On a Select trim or higher, the blind-spot camera in the cluster turns that system from a warning into something closer to a real-time second set of eyes.

Browse available GV80 inventory to see which trims are on our lot and confirm which driver-assistance features you'd be getting.

I-65 and stop-and-go density. Heavy truck traffic stays consistent on I-65 both north and south of Nashville, particularly between Brentwood and the downtown core during peak hours. Smart Cruise Control with stop-and-go capability brings the GV80 to a complete stop and resumes without driver input. In sections where speed drops suddenly and the vehicle behind you may be a loaded semi with longer stopping distances, that's the system earning its keep.

Safe Exit Assist off the highway. Safe Exit Assist reads like a parking-lot feature, and it's more accurately a highway-adjacent one. Rest stops and service plazas off I-65 in Spring Hill have traffic moving at speeds that catch rear passengers off guard. The system holds the door latch against an approaching vehicle until the hazard clears. It's easy to forget to confirm, worth doing before any run with rear-seat passengers.

View Current GV80 Offers

Before You Leave: A Print-and-Go Recap

Schedule a service check if it's been a while, particularly for tire pressure and brake condition, before any Monteagle run, because the descent is where worn pads and a soft pedal announce themselves at the worst possible moment. Below is the condensed version to review before you pull out of the driveway.

Confirm active in the settings menu:

1. Highway Driving Assist 2
2. Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist
3. Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist
4. Smart Cruise Control (set to actual traffic flow)
5. Lane Keeping Assist (sensitivity adjusted for curvy I-24 sections if preferred)
6. Safe Exit Assist
7. Rear Seat Alert
8. Driver Attention Warning

Check on the instrument cluster before starting:

• Tire pressure reading is normal
• AWD indicator shows no fault (if AWD-equipped)
• No active warning lights present

One honest trade-off to name plainly: the 2026 GV80's standard safety suite is comprehensive across every trim, but the blind-spot camera view in the cluster requires at least the Select configuration. That camera matters on the Spaghetti Bowl, where you want real-time lane awareness rather than an audible alert after the fact. Better to confirm it during trim selection than realize it on your first downtown merge. Our team is glad to walk through which systems are present on whatever's currently on the lot. Just ask us.

By the Genesis of South Nashville Team | October 2026