Both the RS 7 and AMG E-Class Sedan have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The RS 7 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 AMG E-Class Sedan’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 Audi RS 7 has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The AMG E-Class Sedan doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
The RS 7 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 AMG E-Class Sedan 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.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the RS 7 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 AMG E-Class Sedan doesn’t offer a night vision system.
The RS 7’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the AMG E-Class Sedan.
Both the RS 7 and the AMG E-Class Sedan have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee 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, around view monitors, available blind spot warning systems 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 Audi RS 7 is safer than the Mercedes AMG E-Class Sedan:
|
RS 7 |
AMG E-Class Sedan |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.9 inches |
1.1 inches |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
135 |
215 |
Spine Acceleration |
43 G’s |
46 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
39 G’s |
43 G’s |
Hip Force |
514 lbs. |
836 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.