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 XT6 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row seat belts.
Both the Q8 and XT6 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 XT6’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’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 XT6 doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
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 XT6 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 XT6.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Q8’s standard Hill Descent Assist allows you to creep down safely. The XT6 doesn’t offer Hill Descent Assist.
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 XT6 doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
Both the Q8 and XT6 have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Q8 has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The XT6’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Q8 and the XT6 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, 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 XT6:
|
|
Q8 |
XT6 |
|
|
Passenger |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
238 |
305 |
| Chest Compression |
.5 inches |
.6 inches |
| Neck Injury Risk |
34% |
38% |
| Neck Stress |
120 lbs. |
155 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 Q8 is safer than the Cadillac XT6:
|
|
Q8 |
XT6 |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
60 |
98 |
| Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
.7 inches |
|
|
Rear Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
141 |
180 |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
282 |
292 |
| Hip Force |
593 lbs. |
666 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.