In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the G90 are reminded to check the back seat when a sensor determines the back seat is occupied. The A8 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The G90 has standard Anti-Whiplash Front Head Restraints, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Anti-Whiplash Front Head Restraints system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The A8 doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The G90 offers an optional Parking Collision-Avoidance Assist-Reverse that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The A8 doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.
The G90 has a standard blind spot warning system which uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. A system to reveal vehicles in the A8’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the G90 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist and automatically engage the brakes. Audi charges extra for Rear Cross-Traffic Assist on the A8.
The G90’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 A8 doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the G90 and the A8 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, front seat center airbag, side-impact head airbags, front 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 and around view monitors.
For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the G90 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 29 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The A8 has not been tested, yet.