For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Audi Q8 have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Cadillac Escalade doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row seat belts.
Both the Q8 and Escalade have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Q8 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 Escalade’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 Q8 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 Escalade 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.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Q8. But it costs extra on the Escalade.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The Q8 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The Escalade doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
The Q8 has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. Only the Escalade Premium/Platinum/Sport offers a blind spot warning system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Q8 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Assist and Automatic Brake Activation automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Only the Escalade Premium/Platinum/Sport offers Rear Cross Traffic Alert and the Escalade’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.
For better protection of the passenger compartment, the Q8 uses safety cell construction with a three-dimensional high-strength frame that surrounds the passenger compartment. It provides extra impact protection and a sturdy mounting location for door hardware and side impact beams. The Escalade uses a body-on-frame design, which has no frame members above the floor of the vehicle.
Both the Q8 and the Escalade have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available night vision systems and 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 Q8 is safer than the Cadillac Escalade:
|
|
Q8 |
Escalade |
| OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
|
Passenger |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
| Chest Compression |
.5 inches |
.6 inches |
| Neck Injury Risk |
34% |
47% |
| Neck Stress |
120 lbs. |
272 lbs. |
| Leg Forces (l/r) |
47/47 lbs. |
333/811 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 post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Audi Q8 is safer than the Cadillac Escalade:
|
|
Q8 |
Escalade |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Hip Force |
593 lbs. |
764 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Q8, with its four-star roll-over rating, is 5.3% to 6% less likely to roll over than the Escalade, which received a three-star rating.
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 “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Q8 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 131 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Escalade has not been tested, yet.