The Q8’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The QX55 doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the Q8 and QX55 have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Q8 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 QX55’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.
The Q8 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 QX55 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.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Q8’s standard Hill Descent Assist allows you to creep down safely. The QX55 doesn’t offer Hill Descent Assist.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The Q8 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The QX55 doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the Q8 Prestige helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The QX55 doesn’t offer a night vision system.
Both the Q8 and QX55 have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Q8 has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The QX55’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
The Q8’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 QX55 doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Q8 and the QX55 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, 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 and available around view monitors.
The Audi Q8 weighs 926 to 979 pounds more than the Infiniti QX55. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Audi Q8 is safer than the Infiniti QX55:
|
Q8 |
QX55 |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
238 |
285 |
Chest Compression |
.5 inches |
1.2 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
34% |
37% |
Neck Stress |
120 lbs. |
219 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
47/47 lbs. |
452/534 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Audi Q8 is safer than the QX55:
|
Q8 |
QX55 |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Structure |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
86 |
141 |
Torso |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Torso Max Deflection |
.94 in |
1.73 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
5 MPH |
9 MPH |
Pelvis |
ACCEPTABLE |
MARGINAL |
Pelvis Force |
937 lbs. |
1316 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
40 |
57 |
Neck Compression |
45 lbs. |
89 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Shoulder Deflection |
.43 in |
.67 in |
Shoulder Force |
134 lbs. |
201 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
1.1 in |
1.42 in |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
The Audi Q8 achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The QX55 is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.