For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Audi Q5 are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The BMW X3 doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
Both the Q5 and X3 have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Q5 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 X3’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.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Q5. But it costs extra on the X3.
Both the Q5 and the X3 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Audi Q5 is safer than the BMW X3:
|
Q5 |
X3 |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Compression |
44 lbs. |
64 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
80/49 lbs. |
116/280 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
34% |
38% |
Neck Stress |
134 lbs. |
139 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
30 lbs. |
72 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
90/55 lbs. |
183/114 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
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 Audi Q5 is safer than the BMW X3:
|
Q5 |
X3 |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
60 |
64 |
Abdominal Force |
98 lbs. |
153 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
219 |
281 |
Spine Acceleration |
35 G’s |
43 G’s |
Hip Force |
600 lbs. |
624 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Q5 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 92 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The X3 has not been fully tested, yet.