The e-tron’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Model X doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
The e-tron’s standard pretensioning seatbelts also sense rear collisions and remove slack from the seatbelts to help protect the occupants from whiplash and other injuries. The Model X doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The e-tron 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 Model X 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 e-tron’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Model X doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
An active infrared night vision system optional on the e-tron helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera and near-infrared lights to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The Model X doesn’t offer a night vision system.
The e-tron offers an optional Top View Camera System to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Model X only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the e-tron’s standard Rear Cross-Traffic Assist uses sensors in the rear to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side and Automatic Brake Activation automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. The Model X doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
The e-tron has a standard Audi Connect CARE, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a cellular system to help track down your vehicle if it’s stolen or send emergency personnel to the scene if any airbags deploy. The Model X doesn’t offer a GPS response system, only a navigation computer with no live response for emergencies, so if you’re involved in an accident and you’re incapacitated help may not come as quickly.
Both the e-tron and the Model X 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, 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 and rearview cameras.
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, results indicate that the Audi e-tron is safer than the Tesla Model X:
|
|
e-tron |
Model X |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
44 |
101 |
| Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
.7 inches |
| Abdominal Force |
117 lbs. |
157 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 e-tron its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 127 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Model X has not been tested, yet.