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 Nissan Murano doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Q8’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Murano doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the Q8 and Murano 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 Murano’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 Murano 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 Murano.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Q8’s standard Hill Descent Assist allows you to creep down safely. The Murano 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 Murano doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the Q8 Prestige 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 Murano doesn’t offer a night vision system.
Both the Q8 and Murano 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 Murano’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Q8 and the Murano have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear 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 and available around view monitors.
The Audi Q8 weighs 884 to 1157 pounds more than the Nissan Murano. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
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 Nissan Murano:
|
Q8 |
Murano |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
238 |
266 |
Chest Compression |
.5 inches |
.7 inches |
Neck Stress |
120 lbs. |
124 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
47/47 lbs. |
169/236 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 Nissan Murano:
|
Q8 |
Murano |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
60 |
101 |
Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
.9 inches |
Hip Force |
260 lbs. |
392 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
141 |
148 |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
15 inches |
17 inches |
HIC |
282 |
439 |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.