For enhanced safety, the front shoulder belts of the Buick Encore are height-adjustable, and the rear seat shoulder belts have child comfort guides to move the belt to properly fit children. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages children to buckle up. The Audi A4 Allroad has only front height-adjustable seat belts.
Both the Encore and the A4 Allroad 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, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive, collision warning systems, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors and rear cross-path warning.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Buick Encore is safer than the Audi A4 Allroad:
|
Encore |
A4 Allroad |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
73 |
172 |
Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
1.1 inches |
Abdominal Force |
120 G’s |
219 G’s |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
100 |
277 |
Spine Acceleration |
33 G’s |
56 G’s |
Hip Force |
672 lbs. |
777 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
46 G’s |
47 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its top level performance in all IIHS frontal, side, rear impact and roof-crush tests, and with its optional front crash prevention system, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Encore the rating of “Top Pick” for 2016, a rating granted to only 221 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The A4 Allroad has not been fully tested, yet.